Trailing 26-7 at half-time, Carlisle Rugby Club produced a remarkable fightback to win their North One West game at Burnage.

Desperately fighting against relegation, and deservedly ahead, the home side could not cope with Carlisle’s response.

The last kick of the match gave Carlisle a 36-33 victory and maintained their 11-point lead at the top.

Carlisle had suffered an early blow when captain Chris Auld was helped off with a match-ending head injury, just four minutes in.

Burnage applied the early pressure and Carlisle spent a lot of time defending with little opportunity to break out. The hosts got on the scoreboard after 13 minutes with a well-worked try from a five-metre line-out.

Four minutes later, another Carlisle penalty infringement gave Burnage another chance at a five-metre line-out and, eventually, the centre carved a line through the defence to go under the posts.

There was no let up at all for Carlisle and a dropped ball at a line-out gave Burnage possession on the half-hour mark, which they duly converted into their third try and a 19-point lead.

Although Carlisle had scrum dominance and the Burnage front-row were all over the place, the visitors were failing to capitalise on the possession they had. That did change three minutes before the break as finally Carlisle managed to get into the Burnage 22 and got scrum ball.

A series of scrum penalties saw Carlisle advance towards the posts until the referee lost patience, awarding a penalty try and binned the offending Burnage prop.

Burnage’s response was swift, and with the last play of the half, marched Carlisle back down the field and were under the posts for their bonus-point try and a restored 19-point lead at half-time.

Any neutral watching could have been forgiven for wondering who exactly were the promotion hopefuls and who were the relegation candidates.

The formbook had been well and truly consigned to the bin, as Burnage thoroughly deserved their substantial half-time lead.

Carlisle looked a different side in the second half after scoring inside four minutes.

Prop and eventual man-of-the-match John Short got on the end of a catch and drive from a five-metre line-out and dived in for Carlisle’s second try.

The defence which was shaky in the first half, firmed up, and Burnage were not finding the opportunities they had in the first half.

Carlisle narrowed the lead again on 55 minutes. Stealing Burnage line-out ball on the halfway mark, new recruit flanker Kyle Lindsay made some hard yards down the centre into the Burnage 22.

Although dragged down by the chasing defence, Henry Wainwright was in close support to take the pass, turn the last Burnage defender and go under the posts.

Burnage were continuing to struggle in the scrum, they lost another prop to the bin, then lost a scrum against the head just inside their half to give Carlisle the chance for their fourth try.

No.8 Josh Holmes broke left and put James Telford in the clear. The scrum-half put the afterburners on and, drawing the defence out left, shot through a gap to clinch the bonus-point try, converted by Jason Israel to level the scores.

With Burnage looking a little shell-shocked, Carlisle turned up the heat, and four minutes later, had taken the lead as Holmes got just rewards for some hard running to crash over the line. Israel converted for a seven-point lead with 10 minutes to go.

Burnage weren’t finished though, and from the restart, pushed up and their scrum-half raced under the posts to even the scores at 33-33.

A penalty from Israel, with two minutes to go, just drifted wide. Then, a long-range attempt a minute later finished short but Burnage kept the ball alive and ran the ball out to their 22.

Carlisle managed to regain possession, and building phases, pushed up to the home 22 where Holmes drove on and was dragged down in front of the posts. The Burnage defender sealed off at the resulting ruck, giving Israel his third and final penalty opportunity to secure the win with the last kick of the game.