Carlisle City and Penrith both had good victories yesterday in Northern League Division One.
It means that along with Kendal Town all three Cumbria clubs are in the top half of the table.
City had been held to a midweek home draw by Birtley and conceded early in the follow-up fixture at Gillford Park.
The home side were caught out by a counter attack as Kyle Cockburn put bottom-of-the-table Whickham ahead on 10 minutes.
But the home side dominated after that, creating a number of chances before eventually a quick fire brace from Callum Birdsall (38, 40) gave City a 2-1 interval lead.
It had been a good first-half by City and although not quite as good after the break they still were the better side.
However there’s always a concern that any sort of slip or lack of concentration could be costly and there was relief when Jordan Irving knocked in an 83rd minute penalty to wrap up the points.
Here are Dan Kirkup’s views on the match:
Penrith had an excellent 2-1 home win over high-flying Guisborough Town.
It was a game of relatively few chances but when asked to defend well Penrith were strong and resolute.
They had conceded the first goal on the half hour mark when Jaedon Faulkner gave the visitors the lead.
But Penrith responded quickly and Lewis Jolly netted the equaliser three minutes later.
Three minutes into the second half Guisborough were reduced to 10men when Joe Ferguson was sent off for a high tackle on Matty Bell.
Penrith pushed hard late on, winning a succession of corners and from one of them in added time Matty Williamson forced in the winner for his first senior goal.
You can hear the views of manager Jim Nichols below:
Kendal’s 2-0 win at West Allotment on Friday night leaves the Mintcakes 7th (played 8, points 15) with Carlisle City 8th (12, 15) and Penrith 10th (11, 13).
