ALTRINCHAM Kersal sent out a message to the rest of North One West when they ended Kirkby Lonsdale's unbeaten record on Saturday.

The Stelfox men defeated the third-placed side 17-13 to rise to fifth in the table and prove they are a force to be reckoned with after being promoted last season.

Kersal were without Pete Kilburn and Jon Bishop, for whom this game came a week too early but still fielded a strong squad.

Likewise, it was clear Kirkby were also hampered in selection due in no small part to the flooding in Cumbria.

Andy Frost fielded a misplaced kick and passed to James Coulson who scythed through a lacklustre defence to score under the sticks with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

Before 60 seconds were on the clock Ryan Seaton had added the extras to make it 7-0.

Kirkby dusted themselves down and shook the long journey out of them and began to exert their formidable pack on the hosts who don't face too such a competent foe too often at home.

Kirkby struck back with a well taken penalty to drag themselves back into the game.

Not to be deterred, AK continued to mount pressure and tackle in packs, one such occasion finding Steve Richardson turning the ball over and feeding Singleton who scampered home to make it 12-3 after 20 minutes.

Richardson was again involved, this time occupying two defenders before offloading to John Geddis who in turn fed Singleton who bludgeoned himself in over at the corner for his second of the day.

It was 17-3 after half an hour – a scoreline no one expected at this point in the game.

Kirkby then went on the rampage and a succession of deep drives and penalties saw them camped in the AK 22 for the remainder of the half.

But the home defence held firm, eventually forcing them to take a pot at goal; missing on two occasions which would prove critical later in the day.

With the wind and slope to contend with in the second half, AK could not have asked for a worse start as a fairly innocuous kick ahead ricocheted up off a knee and fell fortuitously for the onrushing winger. It was now 17-8 and Kirkby had their tails up.

The deficit was soon to be cut again, this time a mixture of slick handling and weak defence saw the same winger glide in to take the score to 17-13 and with 10 minutes to go, a one-score game.

Kersal held on valiantly though and were actually on the attack in the last 10 minutes. A knock on in the middle of the pitch signalled the end of a tight game which Kersal just about deserved to win.

Kersal's 2nd XV beat Wirral 2nd XV 31-11 with their performance of the season.

Strong early work by Luke Maitra and Dave Coleman led to young prop Jack Gallimore picking up and driving over the line.

This was followed by a superb break by winger Jack Snoddy, linking with the other winger, Jack Wise, who kicked through for second row George Wise to follow up and touch down.

Wirral stayed in the game with a couple of penalties, but at half time it was 10-6 to AK, with the competitive nature of the game shown by both sides having a red card each.

AK were caught cold after the break, conceding almost immediately but recovered when Doug Whyley's excellent pop pass was taken by Dave McLean who scored.

This was followed by a further converted try by Jack Snoddy, and with the opposition reeling Matt Moss scored another, again converted by scrum half Dave Coleman, who scored three in the wet and windy conditions.