Keswick entertain Winnington Park on Saturday for a North Two West fixture that could decide the end of season league positions.
One place and three points below Keswick, Winnington Park have two games in hand so a good home win would reopen a more comfortable points difference between the sides.
Winnington Park had closed the game on Saturday when Keswick were without a first team fixture. They scored a 45-26 win at lowly Orrell.
As for the Davidson Park club, attention focused on the 2nd XV who travelled to Windermere for a friendly game in ideal conditions, going on to record a clear-cut 66-12 victory.
Keswick attacked from the first line-out after Windermere kicked to clear, running the ball well into the home 22. Second phase ball was passed to George Attwood at centre and he ran through to score under the posts, for Steve Holloway to convert after two minutes.
Windermere almost scored from the restart, charging down Keswick’s clearing kick, but with the line undefended the final pass was poor and the ball went into touch.
Keswick ran the ball from the line out and with handling being much easier than in recent games, both sides enjoyed running with the ball in hand.
Making progress into the home 22, Keswick passed the ball from the back of a scrum. Danny Price gained ground before releasing Joe Bagnall who ran round to score under the posts, again converted by Holloway.
By this stage Keswick’s dominance was apparent, as the passing was crisp and the scrums solid. Despite good first phase defence, Windermere were unable to defend against sustained attack. A run left by Eddie Mawson made space for Joe Quail to score under the posts, again converted by Holloway.
Windermere’s fullback showed his elusiveness after the restart as they ran the ball from a line out in the Keswick 22, cutting back to the blind side to score an unconverted try on 27 minutes.
Opting for a scrum at a penalty on 35 minutes 15 metres out Keswick worked the ball to Price who scored a converted try under the posts.
On 40 minutes, an almost carbon copy of the first try gave the Windermere full-back his second try, and this time his own conversion was successful, for a 12-28 score-line at half time.
Within two minutes of the re-start Keswick went further ahead, running the ball right, where Callum Oswald scored out wide and Holloway converted.
The Windermere scrum improved in the second half, as did their line out, but they were unable to convert that improvement into points, despite spending long periods in the Keswick half.
It was in the last 15 minutes that Keswick’s dominance asserted itself again.
A run from inside the 22 by Bagnall, supported by Quail and Jonny Robinson, saw Price score an unconverted try.
This was followed by Ally Hewett-Smith running through before passing to Price who touched down, with Holloway again adding the extras.
The next attack ended in a goal line drop out, which was caught and ran back, with Joe Slack reaching the line to score. Holloway converted.
After 78 minutes Windermere were dispossessed and Bagnall ran in from 70 metres with Holloway converting.
The re-start kick was caught by Quail and run back for Oswald to score the final unconverted try.
