10:42pm Saturday 28th January 2006
By Dennis Aris
Kendal Town 0, Ossett Albion 1.
Kendal Town's tenure at the top of the UniBond League First Division was short-lived as a shock defeat by strugglers Ossett Albion sent them back to second place after just a week in the limelight.
In a lacklustre performance Town were unable to beat the visitors' well-worked offside trap and were hit on the break in the 44th minute when Gary Duffy flicked on a cross from the left for Daniel Toronczak to stab the ball home.
It could have been worse a minute later Ossett repeated the move exactly then angrily surrounded the referee who blew for half-time as the ball was on its way into the net.
In a thoroughly bad afternoon Town were dealt another blow in their bid for the title when captain and play-maker Lee Ashcroft was given a straight red card in the 65th minute for charging straight into the back of Dominic Riordan an offence which almost certain to earn him a three-match suspension.
A minute later Ossett's Jon Wordsworth was dismissed for a similar offence on Paul Osborne.
In an afternoon more memorable for off the ball incidents than footballing skills both sides earned a clutch of yellow cards and Town's Dene Whittal-Williams was lucky to stay on the field for a challenge from behind which looked every bit as bad as those from Ashcroft and Wordsworth.
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