LYING just a place above visitors Morley, it was imperative that Kendal recorded a win in a difficult National 2 North campaign and they did so with a hard-fought 28-20 victory.

Tries from Will Vokes and Simon Mulholland in the first half and a third courtesy of John Ladell after the break did the business, but a four-try bonus-point eluded them.

Kendal coach Ian Voortman said afterwards: "We showed glimpses of what we can do as an attacking force, but we left an awful lot of points on that field today.

"We bombed quite a few tries out there and while our defensive pattern was generally good we are still a bit prone to giving sides 10 minutes when they have a lot of possession.

"It was good to see John Ladell get his try and our other scores from Will Vokes and Simon Mullholland were well-worked.

"There was a spell in the second half when the monentum appeared to be shifting.

"We needed more structure and thankfully we pulled ourselves together rather than be dragged down to a frantic level.

"It was all about the win today and it just good to have got it - even if we go into this week with a notepad full of things to work upon on the training field."

Indeed Morley started the better side and lively high tempo pressure earned an penalty after six minutes which Bradshaw slotted.

A couple of unforced knock-ons came to Kendal's rescue as the Yorkshire visitors threatened and those warnings were heeded as the Black and Ambers conjured up the game's first try.

It came after 16 minutes as stand-off Mark Ireland, shrugging off a shoulder injury from last week, made good use of quick ball from the lineout and broke through in midfield, drew his tackler and gave scrum-half Vokes a untroubled run-in near the posts.

Ireland converted and Kendal led 7-3.

Kendal probed wide but could not finish break on either flank and after 25 minutes neither side had stamped their authority on a close contest.

After prop Richard Harryman stormed gloriously clear in front of the posts, Morley were penalised for a deliberate knock-down of the walk-in pass to Liam Hayton, and Ireland add his second penalty to make it 10-3.

Accumulation rather than authority was the watchword as a second Kendal try came after 35 minutes.

It looked a great training-ground move as Ireland launched a beautifully weighted chip over the flat defence which unchallenged bloodhound Mulholland pursued to finish off.

The conversion failed but Kendal had a 12-point lead which they extended to 18-3 on the stroke of half-time when Ireland put over a penalty for offside.

At the start of the second half Kendal errors brought pressure back on themselves and when flanker Peter Stevens was yellow-carded for lying on the ball,the visitors clawed back three points.

Slack work at the breakdown proved more costly as Kendal conceded a try in the 58th minute when Morley mauled loose ball and the bounce favoured Bradshaw who darted over and converted.

At 18-13 the result was back in the melting-pot, but Ireland added a penalty and Kendal scored a third try from a penalty lineout, mauling tenaciously close to the line before prop Billy Coxon broke away and fed wingman Ladell to surge over. A successful conversion from Ireland made it 28-13.

That should have been that but deep in stoppage time, Morley grabbed a converted try in the corner, the kick bouncing over off the bar, but thankfully it was not enough for a bonus-point.