KIRKBY Lonsdale's fortunes swung wildly over the Christmas period, losing narrowly 15-6 at Vale on Boxing Day and then going down heavily 77-7 at Workington on Saturday.

In a hard-fought match, Kirkby tackled tremendously to hold out Vale's driving runs.

For a change Kirkby were first on to the scoreboard with a Mallaband penalty, but Vale soon struck back with a try from Glennan, converted by Miller.

Kirkby got back into contention with another Mallaband penalty. Vale then mauled their way over for Wood to score a second try, which was unconverted.

Just before half time Miller added a penalty to give Vale a 15-6 lead at the interval.

Kirkby gave it everything in the second half. Despite defending for long periods, they put together some good moves and played more adventurous rugby.

Three times Kirkby looked certain to score but a delay in the final pass and excellent tackling thwarted their efforts.

Vale were unable to score either and the match ended in a 15-6 defeat.

Forty-eight hours later on Saturday, Kirkby went to Workington and were 14 points down before they had got the journey out of their legs.

One of the Workington wing-forwards looked set to add to the score but Mallaband pulled him down just short of the posts and good support play took Kirkby up to the opposition 22.

Slick passing by Forshaw and Hadwin gave Squires an overlap and he exploited it fully, outpacing the defence and turning inside the full back to score under the posts, with Mallaband converting.

Workington were probably the biggest side Kirkby have met this season and they had to tackle hard to keep them out. Even so, the visitors were a bit unlucky when Workington scored shortly before the break to take a 21-7 lead.

Unfortunately, Kirkby's Boxing Day efforts began to take their toll and Workington scored at regular intervals in the second half against tired opponents to eventually notch up a depressing 77 points from the visitors' standpoint.

Kirkby now have to raise themselves against BAE next Saturday to get some much-needed league points to their name.

January 3, 2003 10:00