New Brighton 31 pts, Kendal 35 pts

NEW Brighton now need a miracle if promotion is to be achieved after Saturday's loss at Reeds Lane.

From the kick-off, the Blues tore at their opponents, and Murray King missed an early penalty before skipper Kevin Brookman crashed over to score after eight minutes and King converted for 7-0.

Kendal came back in ferocious style and when the Blues struggled to hold their opponents forwards, a penalty try brought the score to 7-5. After 30 minutes, Kendal's pressure told and another try gave them the lead at 7-10.

Murray King soon kicked a penalty to level the scores at 10-10, but Kendal score another try for a 10-15 half-time advantage.

New Brighton lost Paul Brett with a broken hand and from the re-start Kendal's forwards were becoming a handful and, sure enough, a try and conversion gave them a commanding 10-22 lead.

Ian Kennedy gave the Blues hope with a try for 15-22 and the introduction of Carl Turley for Shaun Gallagher made them more solid in the scrums.

Geoff Jones scored another try and King converted to give the Blues a 24-22 lead.

But, to the despair of the home fans, New Brighton were leaking points. A penalty and try gave Kendal a 24-32 try.

Not known for giving up, the Blues rallied and came within a point of snatching an unlikely draw. Simon Wright scored a last gasp try converted by King, but in injury time a Kendal drop goal gave them a deserved victory of 31-35.

A season where if only springs to mind. New Brighton certainly started the season well but that poor performance and bad luck on Christmas Sunday at Reeds Lane with that injury time defeat against Preston will haunt them.

Holders New Brighton are in the Cheshire Cup Final on Sunday at Birkenhead Park Rugby Club (kick-off 3pm).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.