TWO first half strikes by Workington's Craig Johnston helped his side land the spoils in this Cumbrian Derby clash at Borough Park.

Kendal made a promising start with Ian Simpson anticipating a Workington throw on three minutes, which led to Gareth Jones wasting an early goal opportunity.

Shortly afterwards midfielder Stuart Cliff forced trialist goalkeeper James Holland into making a fine one-handed save from a sweetly-struck left foot drive.

Red's Stuart Moffatt came close to giving his side the lead on 17 minutes. The ball was destined for the bottom corner until Kendal captain Richard Close made ground quickly to intervene with a crucial block.

A minute later the action switched to the opposite end as Cliff sent over a centre from the right which cleared keeper Holland and hit the inside of the post before rolling to safety.

It was the home side who broke the dead-lock on 27 minutes.

The Town defence only half cleared the ball and Craig John-ston was the beneficiary, hammering the ball into the net to make it 1-0.

On the stroke of half-time a misunderstanding between Kendal keeper Lee Ward and right-back Lee Pennington presented Johnston with another goal scoring chance and he neatly lifted the ball over Ward to put his side in control.

Robert Ennis squandered anearly second half chance that would have put paid to any Kendal fightback, but good work by Town substitute David Foster on 62 minutes handed his side a lifeline.

Holland was unable to gather Foster's low shot and Jones reacted quickly to squeeze the ball home from the narrowest of angles.

Winger Jamie Close almost produced a late equaliser. He beat the keeper in a race for a loose ball but, at full stretch, just failed to find the target.

May 2, 2003 09:30