Fantastic away win in Cumbria.

For their last visit to Cumbria this season, Moor travelled to third-placed Kirkby Lonsdale on Saturday in the knowledge that a win in this and again in their final game would ensure that they would finish fourth in their division. In addition, they were eager to put in a better performance than when the sides met at Green Lane in September, as this was their heaviest defeat of the season.

Moor played down the slope in the first half and used this to their benefit as they proceeded to have the majority of position as well as possession. Their forward loose play meant that they always seemed to have the edge, although they again had difficulty winning any of their own line-outs. Their normally slick back line also had trouble in developing any fluency to the game, probably due to the fact that a somewhat experimental line-up was in play; fly-half, outside centre and full-back all swapped around.

Despite the visitor’s early advantage, it was the home side who opened the scoring after 10 minutes, as Moor lost yet another of their line-outs on their 10-metre line and good handling and support play by Kirkby resulted in one of their centres cutting back to slice through some ineffectual tackling to score, the resultant conversion going just wide. Moor should have reduced the deficit immediately from the re-start as they were awarded a penalty only 5 metres from the opposition’s line but instead of taking what seemed to be an easy 3 points, they chose to run the ball and were themselves penalised, allowing the scoring chance to slip away.

The Green Lane side had to wait until the 35^th minute to open their account following prolonged pressure in the opposition’s half. From one of the numerous rucks, the ball was passed quickly along the back line where centre Nick Smith made a break and when he was stopped, the Moor back row were up in support for player/coach Keith Young to take the final pass to score, the try being converted by fly-half Martin Snidal and allowing Moor to take a narrow 7-5 interval lead.

It was to be Kirkby who took advantage of the slope after the break and the visitors very rarely got into the home side’s territory. Moor did stretch their lead with a Snidal penalty after 10 minutes but for most of the second session they were kept pinned down in their own half. It was only dogged defence work that kept their lead intact and their back row’s ability to seemingly get to the breakdown first and slow the game down and deprive the opposition of any quick ball. On the few occasions that Kirkby had a scoring opportunity they either took the wrong option or over-elaborated their moves. Maybe they were still suffering from the after effects of their unexpected defeat in their previous league game or complacency in the knowledge that they would now finish third in the division, but the home side seemed to lack the will to finish the game off, and it was Moor who wanted the win the most. Kirkby did reduce the lead midway through with a penalty of their own but the game ground to a halt between the Moor 10- and 22-metre lines as both sides cancelled each other out and the visitors eventually ran out narrow 10-8 winners.

To complete a satisfactory weekend, Moor’s 2^nd XV won the Miller Homes 4 East division title with a comprehensive 95-14 win over Village Spartans at Green Lane on Saturday.Next Saturday, Moor play their last league game of the season away at Burnley, k.o. 3:00 pm.