Third-place Morpeth record a bonus point win against Carlisle ahead of games against joint leaders

The league campaign, with nine matches completed, shows Morpeth sitting proudly in third place, only three points behind joint leaders Middlesbrough and Northern.

The next two league games are mouthwatering clashes against these two sides.

Whilst these fixtures could be season defining, there can be no doubt whatsoever that, to date, the team’s performances have seen significant improvement on last year’s efforts. Credit to all those involved.

The game against Carlisle was a scrappy affair and it was the home side that opened the scoring on 12 minutes with a converted try.

It took only a further four minutes before Morpeth struck back thanks to Sam Hornby, who is becoming an increasingly regular scorer.

The try was converted by Harvey Gillie, who had a welcome return to kicking form.

Better was to come – Tom Katory touched down on 34 minutes, for a score converted by Gillie, before the same player kicked a penalty on the stroke of half time to make the score 7-17 at the interval.

The home side reduced the deficit with a score of their own on 42 minutes.

Worse was to come for the Mitford Road outfit when another successful Carlisle penalty on 60 minutes made the score 13-17, as the match moved into the final quarter.

Morpeth picked up the pace late in the game, with forward dominance becoming the key. Tries on 70 and 80 minutes, by Micky Hall and Josh Williams respectively, saw Morpeth through to victory.

Both tries were converted by Gillie, who also added a second-half penalty.

Final score 13-32.