Carlisle Rugby Club take a major step towards North One West safety by beating Douglas

They are now five points clear of the final relegation place, currently occupied by Manchester.

Altrincham Kersal are in between the pair and they have played a game more than both of them and still have to visit Carlisle.

Against Douglas, the Cumbrians had established an 18-0 lead at half-time with tries from Andy Glendinning, Lee Brumpton and Shaw Lorimer-Bell, plus a Max Connon penalty.

The Manxmen caused a few pangs of doubt in the Carlisle minds when they pulled back to 18-14 with two converted tries.

But Carlisle held their nerve and clinched vital points with a fourth try from Robbie James in the 79th minute, which was converted by James Telford.

Carlisle skipper Tom Graham said: “This was a much-needed result and an all-round better performance.

“Our first-half display was the best we have played in a long time, but our second half has left a few questions to answer.

“The team will continue to put the efforts in and secure our status in this league. Here’s to the next game.”

And that comes up tomorrow, as like many more clubs, Carlisle are playing catch-up on Easter Saturday with a home game against Blackburn.

The visitors lost 23-7 at Firwood Waterloo last week which leaves the pair joint second in the table – but both have played two more games than Northwich who are just two points behind and have had two recent games postponed against bottom side St Benedict’s.

Before Saturday’s league clash at Warwick Road, there’s plenty for the club to get involved in tonight.

The second Peter Riddle Memorial game is being played at Warwick Road, remembering a popular club member who died nearly two years ago.

Members of Carlisle’s second and third teams will link-up with some club veterans to take on the University of Cumbria, who will include several of their former students.

As a result, their players will be drawn from various parts of the United Kingdom, several travelling fair distances to take part.

Carlisle were clear winners of the inaugural game last year when there was a minute’s applause from both sides.

Peter, a Scot who was team manager from 2009, had played prop for the club in the 60s and 70s.

There’s a permanent and popular memorial in the Carlisle clubhouse with a special bar named in his honour – Riddle’s Retreat.

The game will kick-off at 6pm but before then, at 4pm, Carlisle’s Under-14s will play a touring team from Fylde.

There’s a big game in prospect for Penrith tomorrow when they host Morpeth in North One East.

Successive defeats have rather put a dampener on Penrith’s promotion prospects, although they are still in contention.

They are seven points behind Alnwick with four games to play and two ahead of Morpeth, who have also completed 22 games.

To stay in the hunt, even for the promotion play-off place, Penrith must win well tomorrow as they reach the business end of the season.

They came unstuck last week at Bradford and Bingley, going down 32-24 in what was a frustrating day for them.

They looked as if at almost any stage they could kick into gear and run away with the game but it just never quite happened.

They do still realistically have a chance of a play-off place but that will require them to win all their remaining games and two of them are away against teams in the top half of the league, which is something they have not managed all season.

Penrith’s away form this season has been brittle to say the least, it was their undoing once more at Bradford.

It was 18-12 to the hosts at half-time with Ryan Johnson and Matt Allinson scoring the Penrith tries. Mike Raine and Brad Taylor crossed in the second-half.

Tomorrow’s opponents Morpeth won 20-12 at Bridlington last week and, like Penrith, have spent time at the top of the table during the season.

There were good wins for Wigton and Aspatria in North Lancs/Cumbria but Keswick lost and are now fading out of promotion contention.

The league title, and automatic promotion, looks to be De La Salle’s, who have an eight-point lead over Aspatria from two more matches.

It’s within the Black Reds’ range, of course, but the Salford side do have what seems better prospects of securing the points they need.

Wigton might have the toughest end-of-season programme but they are producing some of their best form.

On their first-ever visit to Tarleton, the Greens produced their best away performance so far to win 44-15.

They currently trail De La Salle by seven points with three games left and it looks like they are involved in a three-way race for he promotion play-off place with Aspatria and Bolton.

Two Ryan Clark penaltes had given Wigton a slender 6-5 lead at half-time, with hardly a hint of what was to follow.

A penalty try got them going and after that there were touchdowns for Dan Reed, Nathan Whitehead, Dave Hanabury (2) and Sam Harrison.

Not unexpectedly, Aspatria posted a convincing 50-17 win at a struggling Eccles side, racking up eight tries in the process.

But they face a crucial game tomorrow when they visit Bolton who are a point behind from a game more.

At Eccles, the tries were scored by James Ravell, Patrick Noutch, Gary Hodgson, Jack Robinson, Andrew Miller (2), Ben Robinson and Craig Foster.

After two successive away defeats, Keswick slipped up at home when they went down 20-8 to Bolton.

It was 10-0 to Bolton at half-time with Andy Muir reducing the deficit with a Keswick penalty.

But Bolton scored two more unconverted tries and all Keswick managed was a late try from top scorer Ryan Weir.

In the Cumbria League, leaders Upper Eden had a vital, but nail-biting 17-14 win at Cockermouth.

Silloth were good winners, beating Furness 22-15 at the Jim Brough Rugby Park.