Keswick went into their derby clash with Carlisle on the back of an excellent run of good form against opponents who, after starting the season well, have suffered some disappointing losses in recent weeks, including a thrashing at league leaders Northern, but did win last time out with a home victory over Aspatria, writes Ben Challis.
Keswick head coach Garry Holme’s squad remains impacted by injuries to key players but was bolstered on the day by the inclusion of Ben Clark, Callum McClary and Sam Holt from the Club’s Cumbria 1 team, with Jamie McKenzie acting as captain.
The game started with the two sides testing each other out, and looking well matched in the scrum and line outs, but it was Keswick pressure that led to the first try when a line out released Marky Trow who powered his way through the Carlisle defence to touch down 10 minutes in, with Joe Allday converting.
Keswick doubled their lead 15 minutes later when Ryan Weir used his pace for a huge charge down the left wing to set up Chris Potter who acrobatically somersaulted over the try line to score, with Allday again providing an excellent conversion.
Carlisle replied immediately with an unconverted try from Euan Forlow for 14-5, before being reduced to fourteen men after a bone crunching hit on Potter resulted in a yellow card from Referee Simon Barker.
Keswick took advantage of the numerical advantage with Potter linking up with Dan Craghill on the left wing and Craghill diving over for an unconverted try and a 19-5 scoreline.
Carlisle again replied with an unconverted try from Matt Tomkins for 19-10 and, despite late Keswick pressure on the Carlisle try line with both Trow and McKenzie coming agonisingly close, that remained the score at half time.
Carlisle started the second half the better, and Keswick also went down to 14 men with James Benson sin binned, and the visitors twice narrowed the gap with Keswick giving away two penalties resulting in two well taken goals from Jake Whittaker and a now close 19-16 scoreline.
It really was anyone’s game, and both sides had opportunities to score, with Keswick throwing away a chance of clear daylight in the scoreline when they took a line out just three metres short of the Carlisle try line but lost possession resulting in another Carlisle charge back down the field.
Keswick finally took the win with just seven minutes left to play when repeated attacks led by Matty Atkinson, Karl Smyth, Ally Hewett-Smith, Benson, McKenzie and Trow saw McKenzie illegally tackled by an offside defender on the Carlisle try line as he went in to score with the referee awarding a penalty try and seven points for the final scoreline of 26-16.
The bonus point win (Keswick’s fifth in a row) means that Keswick remain seventh in the Regional Two North table, one point behind Durham City and five behind fifth placed Consett.
