Penrith suffered a setback in their promotion quest at Northern when they lost 15-10 – only their second defeat of the season.
It proved a frustrating loss, too, as leaders Morpeth were beaten 20-19 at home by Percy Park. The end product was that the two point gap between the two teams stayed at the top of Regional 2 North.
The general opinion afterwards was that it was a game Penrith could have won but their rustiness after the seasonal break was more apparent than it was with their opponents.
On Saturday Penrith are on the road again, this time to Stockton – much less successful than Northern this season but dangerous opponents as they are fighting hard to avoid the drop.
Stockton are currently in the second relegation position but only a point behind Keswick and encouraged by a 36-27 win last week at Consett.
Keswick picked-up a deserved losing bonus point at Aspatria after a game which could have gone either way and they know it’s going to be a battle to retain their League status.
On Saturday, for instance, they are at home to Northern – the team that shocked Penrith last week.
Aspatria are still heading the League’s bottom six – 12 points of the team ahead of them, but significantly 13 points in front of Stockton who are next to bottom.
They travel to South Shields Westoe who have work to do to get out of trouble as they are just two points better off than Keswick and three above the relegation zone.
Carlisle fought hard for long spells at Durham City last week, competing strongly in the forwards but were cut open far too easily as the 66-14 result would indicate.
The city side are well adrift at the moment, still looking for their first win, but their future prospects will be decided on how they fare against the other sides in the bottom six.
The next fixture isn’t one of them, though, as they entertain Percy Park – a side no doubt cock-a-hoop after their win at leaders Morpeth.
In Regional One North West it’ still very bleak for Kirkby Lonsdale as they crashed 40-7 at home to Burnage the side just above them in the other relegation position.
That was defeat number 13 in as many matches in this season to forget and if they concede 50 points at Kendal on Saturday they will pass the 1,000 point mark.
Mind you Kendal aren’t exactly flying – beaten 28-3 at home by Wirral last season – but do have 12 points in hand of Burnage in the drop zone
Counties 1 Cumbria has now been split for the rest of the season with fixtures for the top six and the bottom six.
Champions Upper Eden start at home to Millom while Egremont entertain Wigton. Cockermouth should have hosted Whitehaven but have had a serious leak in the clubhouse, currently being repaired so the fixture has been switched to the Playground.
In the lower half, the games are: Hawcoat Park v Creighton; St Benedict’s v Workington and Silloth v Penrith A.
