LYMM came out on top 37-20 at home to Kirkby Lonsdale in a game that was both tatty and sublime.

There were some changes to the previous weeks team, Head Coach Fletcher was forced to move fullback Cormac Nolan to scrum half, with long term injuries nobbling both his usual options Tom Bray remained at 10, with Scott Redfern, returning from a week away filled in at 15. Matty Connelly started in the second row and Jordan Widdrington and Steve Pilkington came onto the bench with Cashel Chilvers.

The game saw Lymm’s third consecutive win and the emergence of some interesting options for Coach Fletcher. Cormac Nolan looks quite at home at scrum half, and the Kimber/Pilkington axis worked very well in the centre.

After both sides had swapped penalties, Cash Chilvers had a positive impact on a game that had gone dull, stealing the ball and sending Oli Higginson on a run to the line.

A penalty each was followed by a Chilvers try, to which the visitors responded with one of their own to make it 20-13 the break.

The second was much better with tries from Senior and Beesley and some faultless kicking from Nolan wrapping it up.

“It was great to get a third victory in a row,’ commented Lymm DoR Fletcher.

“The lads showed some real character today. To lose 3 players before half-time isn’t ideal, especially when one of them is the skipper. We had to rejig the pack and I thought that the lads adapted really well.

“Our defence is getting tighter and our attack is starting to flourish. Looking forward to next week, away to second placed Harrogate.”

Lymm: 1) Gav Woods, 2) James Pitcher, 3) Matty Hand, 4) Matty Connelly, 5) Aaron Rasheed, 6) Adam Bray (c), 7), James Lewis, 8) Ollie Higginson, 9) Cormac Nolan, 10) Tom Bray, 11) Joe Senior, 12) James Kimber, 13) Ben Stansfield, 14) Nathan Beesley, 15) Scott Redfern, 16) Jordan Widdrington, 17) Cash Chilvers, 18) Steve Pilkington.

Meanwhile Warrington’s season of woes continued with a 12-6 loss to Keswick. Although they picked up a bonus losing point, Warrington have now changed places with their opponents and for the first time since they gained promotion they sit at the bottom of North 1 West.

All they could manage was two penalties from Darren Norman.

It took 60 minutes for Warrington to find anything resembling their true form and, on a heavy pitch, Keswick continued to exploit an error-strewn Warrington performance. Eventually, pressure provided points and the Keswick backs used good possession from an attacking line-out to execute an excellent loop move which was clinically finished by the stand-off as he scythed over between the posts.

“Could do much better,” was the comment of coach Andy Roberts. “For much of the match today, I didn’t think we had got off the bus. Hopefully, we can shake this performance off before we meet Stockport next week.”

At Ellesmere Port Eagle racked up a 41-12 success to stretch their winning run to eight against a spirited home side. Conditions were heavy after the week of rain, but to their credit the two teams wanted play a running game.

Eagle’s strongest area on Saturday was their scrummaging and the pack kept the pressure on the home team for the full 80 minutes.

The win sets up Eagle for Saturday’s top of the table clash at home to Prenton.

Coach Steve Yates is not taking the tie lightly, knowing that despite Prenton slipping up earlier on in the season, they have recorded some big wins.

“ It will be a titanic game and we need to be on top of our game. From the results, Prenton clearly have broken down a number of defences, but the boys will relish this as their defensive game has been outstanding. We will need to keep our shape and discipline, and that’s what we will be working on this week,” he said.

A huge defensive effort in the first half ensured another victory in the Lancashire cup for Warrington’s u16’s, a 29-0 triumph at Liverpool Collegiate.

Tries came from Rorio Zheng, two, Jim Hartill and Charlie Bancroft. Three were converted by Jack Bailey.

Coach Dave Hartill said: “You know what you’re going to get with Liverpool Collegiate and it’s not fancy but they do look after the ball for long periods so your defence needs to be organised and aggressive.

“Over 20 phases on our line, but the lads were determined that they wouldn’t cross. We play with our heads up but we’re still lacking some composure in attack, if we can crack that, we’ll be a very dangerous side.”