It was job done at Bower Park as Aspatria escaped the threat of relegation with a home win on the season’s closing day.
As results across the league came through, it became clear that anything less than a victory would not have been enough to save the Black Reds.
This was a final day shootout in which any one of four clubs, Carlisle, Guisborough, Upper Eden, and Aspatria, faced the prospect of demotion.
At the final whistle, Aspatria’s three rivals all finished on 36 points, but Carlisle, owing to a marginally worse playing record than the other two, was the unlucky club.
Kirkby Lonsdale were relegated several weeks ago but recent results hinted that they remained a side capable of causing an upset. Add in Aspatria’s recent poor form and there was plenty of anxiety around the ground prior to kick off.
A chilly but sunny day meant perfect playing conditions underfoot but a swirling breeze hampered the accuracy of kicking out of hand throughout the match.
Thankfully, for Aspatria, Jack Clegg was in fine form with his place kicking.
With only a handful of minutes on the clock, Clegg finished off an early spell of Aspatria pressure with his first penalty.
In previous games Aspatria would have continued the attack, looking for tries but this game was too important to waste opportunities to take points when on offer.
On the 15 minute mark, a second Clegg penalty provided a 6-0 lead and by the 25th, two more had sailed between the sticks to make it 12-0. In the space between taking these points both sides launched promising attacks but failed to cross the line.
Into the final 10 minutes of the half, it became clear that 12-0 was far from being a game clinching margin as Kirkby’s back division provided a severe test of the home defence to finish the half strongly.
Their try scoring efforts were aided by a string of penalties conceded by Aspatria and with the whistle close to blowing, Kirkby used one of these to end play at 12-3.
Kirkby retained the attacking initiative in the opening phases of the second half.
It took Aspatria some time to break the territorial advantage established by the visitors but gradually they did take command of the game, kick-started by an individual slice of brilliance from Mark Watson at scrum half.
On 58 minutes Watson came into possession 40 or so meters from the line. His darting run broke the defensive line and then his footwork took him past covering players to dot down. Clegg converted and at 19-3, Aspatria at last looked comfortable.
A second try came a few minutes later. Throughout the game, Aspatria held a clear advantage in the set scrum and when one was awarded in their favour 10 metres out, the result seemed and was inevitable as the lighter Kirkby pack was marched back to the line, where No8 Chris Graham picked up and dived over.
A consolation score came Kirkby’s way on 72 minutes and it was nothing less than they deserved for a gutsy performance.
With a penalty pending, a speculative cross kick was launched across field to the right flank. In the wind its flight baffled the Aspatria defence and provided a stroll in for Kirkby.
In the last few minutes of the game both teams were happy to sling the ball about and Watson was again on hand to find a way upfield into the Kirkby 22. From this point, the pack took over and mauled to the line where team captain Jack Gaskell charged over for his first try of the season to end the game 31-10.
