ADAM Jackson led the way for Furness as they secured an impressive 24-7 win away to third-placed Carlisle Crusaders in Cumbria Two.

The fly-half scored 14 points for the visitors, kicking three conversions and a penalty along with grabbing the game-clinching try to top off a great afternoon both personally and for the team.

The trip to face Carlisle’s second team marked the first time for nearly two years the Blues had travelled with a full 18-man squad, although there was still some pre-match drama as the team bus arrived just 30 minutes before kick-off due to a navigational error.

It then needed some dogged defending from Furness to keep the visitors out as they struggled to get their hands on the ball for much of the opening 20 minutes.

Nevertheless, they showed some signs of looking dangerous in attack and that proved to be the case on 35 minutes when scrum-half Sam Dutton went over from close range with his first touch of the ball.

Jackson converted and that was enough to see Furness lead 7-0 at the break, with the number 10 adding a penalty from 15 metres out soon after the restart.

Furness’ stern defence started to force some knock-ons and dropped balls by Carlisle, but the hosts hit back when a loose clearance saw the home side’s winger chip over the top of the defence and regather the ball to score a converted try.

It did not take long for Furness to push further ahead though, with a line-out five metres from the Crusaders’ line led to Joe Mallinson bursting through to score, followed by Jackson adding the extras.

And Jackson, who missed out on the man of the match award to Furness centre Dave Gilmour, completed the scoring when he went over for a try and slotted the conversion too.

Furness are now back on home turf for their final two fixtures before the Christmas break and will go into those buoyed by one of their best performances of the season so far.

Elsewhere in the division, it was a weekend to remember for Millom as well after they stormed to a 64-3 victory away to Aspatria Eagles.

That result saw the Wilson Park side leapfrog their opponents in the table and move up to seventh in the standings.

They are one of three teams on 16 points and face another of those, Moresby, at home this Saturday.

But Windermere, who travel to Furness this Saturday, were left with a blank weekend after their scheduled game at home to bottom side Wigton Wanderers was postponed.