Morpeth recorded a crucial win in their fight to pull away from the relegation zone defeating a plucky Carlisle outfit which was witnessed by a good sized Mitford Road crowd. The victory closed the gap on Carlisle to 1 point in win that was well deserved.

The opening phases were dominated by the Cumbrian outfit who put together good phases of play that caused Morpeth to defend desperately. However ,a missed penalty and a disallowed touchdown following a chip and chase was scant reward for their early pressure.

It was infact Morpeth who took the early lead when an excellant lineout catch and drive created a ruck in centre field close to Carlisle's line where a penalty was conceded ,fly half Jinks took it quickly before Jonny Stephenson crashed over from short range with Jinks making the conversion.

After 35 minutes this lead was increased with a Jinks penalty to make it 10-0. A good half was ,however ,spolit when a poor restart enabled Carlisle pressure to be converted by way of a penalty to make the half time score 10-3 to Morpeth.

The home side then dominated the second half with a further Jinks penalty ,and while Carlisle came back with a converted try to make it a worrying last quarter Morpeth pulled away with excellant scrummaging and forward pressure allowing skipper Wilkinson to go over for a try which was converted by Jinks. Both sides swapped penalties before the close with Morpeth running out fairly comfortable winners.

This was a crucial victory and so important with the current league standings in a match sponsored by the famous John Player Cup side of the 70s.

Morpeth are on their travels this Saturday away to Darlington in what will be another important league encounter.