Keswick 30 Morpeth 34

Morpeth showed their intentions straight from the kick off and pressured the Keswick line forcing the first of many penalties conceded by Keswick and duly converting to take a 3 point lead within 5 minutes.
The pitch sodden with the previous couple of days heavy rain did not suit Keswick in any area of the game with the scrummage particularly suffering to gain purchase.

Penalties and the first yellow card of 3 for Keswick put the home team under pressure and Morpeth took full advantage to kick to the corner secure the lineout and duly score under the posts 10 0 to Morpeth.
This fired Keswick into action and a well struck penalty from Kieran Mewse got Keswick on the scoreboard 3 10
A kick and chase deep into the Morpeth 22 saw Danny Price make a great tackle forcing the defender to touch down over the line.

The resulting scrum saw Keswick dominance with Steve Moss touching down, Mewse converted from wide out to level the scores 10 10 with the half coming to an end.

Unfortunately more indiscretion by Keswick let Morpeth back in and a forward drive from a penalty yielded an unconverted try, 10 15 at half time.

Keswick started well and a Mewse penalty closed the deficit 13 15 and shortly afterwards another excellent long range penalty from Mewse gave Keswick a one point lead 16 15.

This was desperately short lived as Morpeth struck back with try under the posts that the Keswick faithful were sure was from a knock on and forward pass that unsighted the referee. 16 22 to Morpeth.

Great back play by Mewse and Dan Craghill put Keswick into a great field position for the forwards to go over from a driving maul with Aaron Thompson coming up with the ball 23 22 to Keswick.

Keswick hit back once again and forward domination in the loose saw another strong driving maul to other the line with Henry Etisoy touching down, Mewse converting 30 22 to Keswick.

Keswick could not consolidate this lead and Morpeth spun the ball wide with the winger touching down in the corner for an unconverted try, 30 27 to Keswick.

With Keswick down to 14 once again the struggle was real to keep Morpeth out and they continued to press with the penalty count continuing to go against Keswick and sustained pressure saw Keswick concede a penalty try and another yellow card as the game came to a close 30 34 to Morpeth.

A really spirited last effort by Keswick could not create the vital score to pull the game back and Morpeth took the win.

Penalties and yellow cards being Keswick's downfall as the uncertainties around relegation & promotion in the league structure going into the final 2 games of the season make a further win important from this spirited team to finish the season on a high.