It is all square in the hotly contested Easter series ball game in Workington as the Uppies claimed victory in the second match last night.

The ball was hailed by Uppie Cameron McCue just after 9.30pm and it is now all to play for in the third and final match of the series on Saturday, at 1-1.

The 23-year-old, from Moorclose, was hailing the ball for the first time and he said afterwards: "It just came over the fence and I stuffed it up my jumper. It was an unreal feeling."

With the Downies having the upper hand ahead of the contest, having won the opening Good Friday contest, the Uppies were out in force last night for the second encounter.

And there was a special flavour to the second match as they commemorated 100 years since the first game was played after the end of World War One.

Local poet John Hastings read the poem In Flanders Fields and got a lot of applause from a really big crowd that has gathered.

And the last post sounded before Robert Andrew Daglish, 39, threw the ball off to get the action under way.

He said, just before the start: “I’m looking forward to doing it because it is a special one. There are plenty of people gathering early for the commemoration and hopefully they’ll stay to play in the game or watch. The special ball is a nice touch I think.”

Dave Tennyson was also there from Workington Veterans Hub, they were invited by the players to be part of the commemoration before the game. Some were on motorbikes and several soldiers were also present.

Veteran Uppie Joe Clark was also pleased to be part of it and added: “It’s quite poignant when you think about the players who didn’t come back from the First World War.

“The game is about camaraderie, you saw that on Friday with the singing. It’s a tough game and we fight but we all love it.”

Once thrown off, the ball spent a large amount of the early game time either in the beck or pressed up against the Leisure Centre.

But the Uppies gradually picked up the pace and got the ball into the beck inbetween the town's cricket club and bingo hall.

And after progressing past the police station, the scrum got back into a tense encounter at Hall Brow, with the road blocked off to cars by the police.

There was no ground being given from either side as the Uppies looked for a final push up to Workington Hall while the Downies were doing all in their power to try and hold them out.

But in the end they could not hold the Uppies back and this all sets up nicely for Saturday for the deciding match.