1st March  2008

CLECKHEATON 9 - 23 KENDAL   

A more compact and spirited Cleckheaton side made Kendal work hard this win as they push for National 3.

In very windy conditions Cleckheaton had the best of the early play and within 3 mins Owen Edwards had them off the mark with a penalty, Cleckheaton continued to push Kendal and it wasn?t until the 12^th min that Dan Stephens kick a long range penalty, another penalty 3 mins later put Kendal in front.

 With Kendal pushing the Cleckheaton line hard the players had to defend just as hard which they did until the 28^th min when John Dudley was sin-binned and a 1 min later the strong Kendal pack pushed over for a try, up to this point Cleckheaton had matched them man for man, Stephens kick was blown wide in the strong wind.

With Cleckheaton having to defend late in the half, a battle which they looked like winning the Referee gave a penalty try to Kendal on 35 mins, Stephen?s converting his kick from wide out. In injury time man about the field Joe South had a long run from deep in his own half and was unlucky not to break the Kendal line.

 Having played a important part in the battle up front in the first half Mark Sargeant and taking a lot of blows to the upper body had to leave the field in the 43^rd min, to be replaced by Ross Hayden who soon got into the thick of thing?s.

Cleckheaton pulled 3pts back in the 49^th min with a long kick from Edwards, but again Cleckheaton took their eye off the game and mins later Kendal were in the corner for a try, Stephens kick going wide. In the 64^th min Edwards pulled 3 more pts back with another long distance kick. Kendal had the best of the ball for the last 15 mins of the game, but to a man Cleckheaton kept them at bay and overall this was a good game for them against top of the table.