Morpeth beat Kirkby Lonsdale in a scrappy game littered with mistakes by both teams

Unfortunately, the game failed to live up to the setting. Morpeth failed to spark, but ultimately deserved their narrow win, both in terms of possession and territory. However, it was a game littered with mistakes.

Morpeth started brightly, with Josh Williams and Elliott Clark making early inroads, and it was no surprise when on five minutes they took the lead with a Harvey Gillie penalty from an excellent turn over.

The visitors continued to dominate, but any continuity ended with poor handling or a dropped pass. Maybe credit should be given to a well-organised home defence.

It wasn’t until the 19th minute when the next score was made. It came from centre Sam Hornby, who was the recipient of quick recycled ball, but he still had work to do, yet with an outside break he made the line for an unconverted score.

The home side then got a foothold in the match, led by number 8 Alfie Bradshaw, who carried well throughout.

On 30 minutes, a quickly taken penalty from Archie Bamforth got behind a slow Morpeth defence for Ollie Higgs to make the corner.

An excellent conversion followed, to make the score 7-8.

The second half mirrored the first. Morpeth had the majority of the game but never really threatened the Kirkby Lonsdale line. The home team defending well.

Miles Gavaghan went close on one occasion, but generally when the ball went wide, Morpeth were lacking.

Gillie hit the post with a penalty, and a poor follow-up allowed the home side to clear.

That penalty miss seemed to give the home side impetus and they broke upfield, gaining a deserved penalty that was converted on 63 minutes, to give them the lead, 10-8.

With 10 minutes to go, Gillie slotted a penalty from 25 metres. That score ultimately won the match – 10-11.

Before the game ended, there was an eye-catching turn over from skipper Jack Elliott, whose commitment was evident throughout.

Then, with the last play and Morpeth in possession, they had their clearance kick charged down, before finally putting the ball out of play. It summed up the match.