Fourth place in Cumbria League One, ahead of the split, rests between Wigton and Whitehaven, with one game to go.

Wigton will start favourites as they finish off at home to Hawcoat Park while Whitehaven have a tougher home fixture against leaders Keswick.

But Whitehaven put in a huge effort to beat third-placed Cockermouth to win 17-5 and avenged an 18-11 defeat from earlier in the season.

Whitehaven earned an early penalty and were able to put the first points on the board from the boot of Steven McConnell.

Haven controlled the game well in the early exchanges retaining possession and were camped in the Cockermouth half for a long period plugging away at a well organised defence.

However it was Cockermouth who scored next against the run of play with an interception as Johnny Ostle raced 60 metres for the touchdown.

Haven worked their way back into the Cockermouth half with a series of strong carries from the forwards and eventually got in front again.

Although the visitors were defending their line well it seemed only a matter of time until the Haven pressure told and eventually the Haven forwards claimed a try from close range which McConnell converted.

The Cockermouth pack had plenty of hard runners and they took it to the Whitehaven forwards in the second half but with no quarter given the home defence held firm, often able to drive the visitors backwards.

After the visitors enjoying arguably their best period of the game Haven were able to regain control following a break from Luke Scott to get them into the Cockermouth 22.

They went close on a couple of occasions before a series of drives from the Haven forwards sucked in a sufficient number of Cockermouth defenders to provide an overlap and quick hands allowed full back Jamie Irving to go over in the corner. The tricky touchline conversion was landed by McConnell.

Into the final quarter Cockermouth peppered the Haven line earning a few penalties, but needing a try they opted for quick taps and again the Haven defence held firm and drove the Cockermouth attack backwards.

One of the moments of the game, which summarised Haven’s defensive effort, was following a half break which gave Cockermouth numbers out wide. The prop was running at pace to claim a consolation score when a huge hit from Irving dislodged the ball.

Aspatria grabbed a 31-14 win at Hawcoat Park but still trail leaders Keswick by eight points.

Keswick were far too strong for St Benedict’s as they raced to a 68-0 win at Davidson Park, sweet revenge for the only team to beat them so far. In the other game Wigton suffered a very disappointing 27-19 defeat at bottom side Upper Eden.