When Ambleside coach Matty Kaye woke up on Saturday morning he must have had a sense of foreboding.
In the 24 hours leading up to the Counties 1 Cumbria game he had lost seven of his most experienced players to illness, injury or work commitments.
The visitors to Galava Park were Cockermouth who the season before had put 55 unanswered points on to a dispirited Ambleside team.
So all things considered this was a commendable performance by the young Ambleside team, eventually losing 25-17 but making Cockermouth work very hard for the victory.
This season has seen a very different Ambleside team that Cockermouth had to face in dry but on a very heavy pitch that had seen days of continuous rain.
Coach Kaye had rallied his troops with seven of the new young players from the University answering the call, not just to fill spaces on the bench but thrown straight in to the heat of battle in the front line starting fifteen.
Ben Glynn, Noah Franklin, Liam Dutton, Josh Mitchell, Cobi Doyle, Leo Zanco and Tom Alday are all under 19 and have added youth and strength to the club this season, despite being thrown in to open age adult rugby at Cumbria League one level sooner than they would have expected.
Add to that a growing number of local lads joining the club like Ben Edmondson, Dylan Larkin, Michael Burton, Harry Reid, Eddie Messenger and Ewan Bugler and a sense of unity, commitment and teamwork is growing at the club.
The first 10 minutes saw both teams sounding each other with a kicking game as it was obviously going to be a tough afternoon for both teams on a pitch that was going to prove difficult to make a clean break on.
Cockermouth scored two quick tries through Oliver Metcalf and Ed Hunter through lapses of concentration from Ambleside and Jake Moore converted the first for an early 12-0 lead.
At this point the visitors might have expected to race away with the game as they did last season but Ambleside are a very different team nowe as the likes of Hawcoat Park and Creighton have found out already on visits to the Lakes.
Cameron Penn pulled three points back for Ambleside with a penalty and that sparked a revival by the home side.
When Cockermouth tried to run the ball from their own half before trying to chip the ball over the head of the Ambleside backs, they came unstuck.
Young outside centre Ben Glynn leapt like a salmon and plucked the ball out of the air before racing under the Cockermouth posts for Penn to add the extras and pull the deficit back to two points.
Ambleside were growing in confidence, with Jack Akrigg at fly half starting to dictate and dominate the game.
After good play from the Ambleside forwards, driving down the pitch from numerous phases of play, Akrigg spotted a gap in the Cockermouth defence and slotted a lovely cross field kick into the opposition dead ball area.
The ball stopped dead in the mud and quickest to react and pounce on the loose ball was that man Glynn for his second try of the day. Penn kicked an excellent conversion from the touch line to give the hosts a 17-12 lead.
All Ambleside had to do was to hang on till half time to regroup and make tactical changes. Unfortunately for them Cockermouth were awarded a penalty just before the break which Moore kicked to leave the home side 17-15 ahead at the interval.
The second half proved to be a battle of attrition played on a pitch more like treacle than grass.
Moore kicked a penalty for Cockermouth to take the lead at 18-17 while Penn, having his best game for Ambleside this season, brushed the wrong side of the post with his penalty attempt.
With only eight minutes to go and with the referee repeatedly penalising the Ambleside team for numerous offences it was only a matter of time before Cockermouth scored.
After countless rucks veteran Stephen Stoddart crashed over under the posts and kicked the conversion himself.
Ambleside pushed and pushed for a try to earn a precious bonus point, but it was not to be.
The final whistle sounded and it was a very relieved Cockermouth team who left the field knowing how close they had been taken by the young, vibrant home side.
Man of the Match for Ambleside was the young university centre Ben Glynn with his two tries, while number eight Tadgh Butler ran him close.
At this time of year last season Ambleside went into the Christmas break bottom of the league with only four points, but this time they go into the Christmas break 8th out of the 14 teams in the league with 17 points.
They are looking to consolidate over the second half of the season with a top half of the league position in their sights.
