LANCASTER pulled off a sensational Origin victory with a gritty performance against a much-fancied Morecambe outfit.

Young stand-off Ollie Austin opened the scoring with a penalty for Morecambe before centre Matt Craven found the gap to strode over the line.

Austin again added the extras for an 12-0 lead in as many minutes.

From looking out on their feet at one end Lancaster finally exerted some pressure of their own.

And ex-Lancaster Uni hooker Jimmy Dyson scored the first of his two tries.

Lancaster visibly lifted when Atoms captain Gavin Helliwell entered the game from the bench. And winger Ledwick finished in style to stun Morecambe.

Then man-of-the-match Russ Birkett found himself with the ball 15 metres from the Morecambe line. Instead of the kick he decided to take on the defence and jinked and shimmied his way past four defenders getting over the line for an outstanding individual score to make it 20-8 before Brian Cambridge dived in for Morecambe.

The relief and a sense of achievement was there for all to see, at the final whistle, for the Lancaster camp, but they can't sit back and gloat for too long as the Origin 2 kicks off on Friday at the Trimpell.