Carnforth 16.

Windermere 17.

WINDERMERE knew that they were in for a tough afternoon as Carnforth were unbeaten in their last five games.

Preparations were not helped by late cry-offs, which forced Windermere into starting with only 14 players as it was decided to preserve the subs and await the arrival of John Sheasby, who answered a call to play only 20 minutes before kick-off.

Unfortunately this decision backfired for Mere and they found themselves 10-nil down. Carnforth’s big forwards made a series of driving runs and scored under the posts with the simple conversion added and then added a penalty from the restart..

Finally Windermere put a couple of phases together and from a good lineout, the ball was spun out to fly-half Mike Proctor whose show-and-go confused the Carnforth defence. With the full back to beat, he popped up the ball Joe Newton who raced in under the posts and James Crawford added the extra two points to make it 10-7.

Indiscipline crept into Carnforth’s game and their back-row forward was sinbinned and when he swore at the referee he was correctly shown a red card.

However, after the break Windermere’s lacklustre performance continued and Carnforth went 13-7 ahead with a penalty.

Windermere, realising they were in grave danger of losing their 100 per cent record, rallied strongly. After good drives by the pack, centre Newton again scored under the posts and Crawford’s successful kick put Mere into a slender 14-13 lead.

With five minutes remaining, Carnforth stole a lineout and worked a drop-goal to put them two points ahead.

With the game’s final attack Windermere winger Chris Lightburn made a strong break down the right wing only to be halted illegally. giving Windermere a penalty chance albeit from the touchline 40 metres out.

Up stepped Crawford who struck the sweetest kick of his career to give Mere the narrowest of victories.

Lessons must be learned from this display and Mere will have to play much better against less-talented teams such as Carnforth.