Last updated at 16:18, Tuesday, 08 January 2013

WINDERMERE moved within touching distance of a top-five finish in the Cumbria League after a convincing win against a weakened Kirkby Lonsdale A.

ON THE CHARGE: Windermere’s John Sheasby powers through a maul with support from Patrick Wilson

Windermere got off to a good start with a pre-planned move that could not have gone better, resulting in a try by full-back James Crawford within three minutes of kick-off.

But they showed that there were cobwebs to be blown away two minutes later, conceding a kickable penalty and allowing Lonsdale to come back within two points.

It was one-way traffic from then until half-time, with tries from Windermere’s Mike Proctor, John Sheasby, Chris Lightburn, Patrick Wilson, Alex Benjamin and Jack Walker and three conversions from Crawford.

But a few seconds before the break, Lonsdale advanced into the Windermere half and won a penalty on the 22. A Windermere player did not retreat and the referee gave Kirkby another 10 metres.

They opted to tap and go, and their courage was rewarded with a morale-boosting try under the posts, which was converted to bring the half-time score to 43-10.

After 12 minutes of vigorous defence and a couple of chip and chase attacks, Kirkby Lonsdale conceded the first score of the second half as Sheasby broke from a maul and burst through a couple of tackles to touch down.

Tries followed for Windermere from Lightburn and another from Sheasby, before Kirkby Lonsdale applied themselves to their defence and held Windermere at bay for a quarter of an hour.

But on the half-hour mark in the second period, Sheasby broke through twice in a couple of minutes and Walker ran in from halfway a few minutes later to bring the score to 79-10.

The final score did not do credit to the courage and tenacity of a Kirkby side decimated by demands from their first team.

For Windermere, the match was an opportunity to try some new variations on the pitch and the result means a return to second place in the league.

First published at 16:08, Tuesday, 08 January 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk