KIRKBY knew a hard task lay ahead of them with the visit of North Lancs/Cumbria League leaders Rochdale to Underley Park on Saturday and as the teams took the pitch it became obvious the Dale had a large weight advantage.

Both teams took a little time to get going after the long lay-off but Kirkby had the first chance of scoring with a Hadwin penalty but the attempt was just wide.Kirkby Lonsdale 3-Rochdale 20.

When play moved into the Kirkby half an attempt to run the ball out of defence failed when a bad pass went to ground, leaving the home side on the back foot.

Although they appeared to have regrouped, Dale stand-off Collins burst through and passed to Halliwell who scored under the posts with Kaine converting to give his side the start they wanted.

Kirkby were trying to run the ball on all occasions and Storey was unfortunate to be pulled down just short of the tryline.

However, the pressure eventually told and Dale went offside for Hadwin to put over a penalty and put Kirkby back into the game.

The Kirkby scrum was coming under considerable strain, but the forwards fared better in the lineout but the poor quality of possession gave the backs little chance to find any gaps.

At last Squires got away on the left wing and a clever pass saw Hadwin streak upfield and kick over the full back only to be taken out by a cynical late tackle.

After Hadwin put the resulting penalty into the corner, Kirkby messed up the lineout and the chance disappeared.

Instead the first half ended with a Dale penalty which Kaine put over to give them a 10-3 lead.

The second half continued in a similar vein with the heavy Dale forwards giving Kirkby a hard time.

Securing good possession, they put together a good passing move that ended with right winger Thomas going over in the corner.

There was an unusual occurance at the conversion attempt when the kicker hesitated in his run-up and Squires sprinter out and kicked the ball away.

Kirkby looked to be getting back in the game and tackled well, but just when they seemed to be getting on top, Dale stand-off Collins intercepted and, despite being caught by J.

Ladell, he found support to score a good try.

Surprisingly, the conversion attempt went just outside.

It was not a day when Kirkby's luck was running for them with kicks not finding touch and some careless passing turning the ball over.

However, towards the end Kirkby gained the ascendancy and with Dowker and Taylor claiming good lineout ball and R.

and J.

Robinson driving strongly into the opposition, Dale looked likely to put some points on the board.

Desperate tackling from Dale saved what seemed like two certain tries to stay top of the league, while Kirkby for once this season had not a try to their name.