Fleetwood 25, Kirkby Lonsdale 10.

IT LOOKED as if Kirkby would carry on the good work from last week for their visit to Fleetwood.

Although an early penalty attempt by Barton fell under the visitors' bar, Kirkby scored an unconverted try when fine work by Ruddenclau fed hooker Bowden to score in the corner.

The satisfactory start continued as R.

Robinson broke through several tackles from a maul on the 22 to cross under the post and this time Barton added the extra points for a 12-0 lead after only 10 minutes.

For the remainder of the first half, both sides tried hard for the breakthrough but a combination of solid tackling and unforced errors prevented any further scoring.

Kirkby, playing into the sun in the second half , won an early penalty in front of the posts, but to everyone's surprise Barton's kick went outside the woodwork.

Keeping the pressure on, another penalty award yards from the Fleetwood tryline, but the referee penalised Kirkby's attempted flying wedge and the chance was wasted.

Home stand-off Smith then changed tactics and hoisted a high ball which the Kirkby defenders missed and a tricky bounce let Fleetwood follow up to score, Smith converting.

Another long kick into the Kirkby 22 brought another try as an attempted clearance rebounded favourable for a Fleetwood player to go over and the touchline conversion took the home side ahead.

A Barton penalty edged Kirkby back into the lead but they were faring badly in the lineouts and were pushed back.

An offside decision saw slot slot over a penalty and he added another minutes later when to give Fleetwood a 20-15 advantage.

The Fleetwood pack lasted well but prop Beanham was left behind as play moved across the pitch.

However, when Fleetwood regained the ball Smith spotted the solitary figure and a long diagonal kick enabled Beanham to gather and scored unopposed in the corner for stretch the gap to 10 points.

Ruddenclau replied for Kirkby, breaking clear from halfway to score a try in the corner and a strong run by R.

Robinson almost made the tryline, but the chance was lost when Kirkby offended at the breakdown.

Fleetwood could not add a late penalty but were safe enough by this stage, leaving Kirkby knowing they had lost a match they should have won.