KENDAL Town breezed past Padiham with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

In an evenly matched first half, the North West Counties Premier Division outfit had the first chance. Lee Morris whipped the ball in and Martin Parkes headed over with the goal gaping just five yards out.

Mark Jackson forced the keeper into a save approaching the half-hour mark, and three minutes later good pressure from Gary McEvatt allowed Jackson to intercept a passback to round the keeper. But his shot proved to be from too acute an angle and his effort went wide.

After 41 minutes Kendal took the lead. McEvatt struck a sweet 20 yard effort into the bottom left corner of Padiham keeper Sean Davis’s net after Town made a good interception in midfield from the keeper’s kick.

The Black and Whites stepped it up a notch in the second half, and doubled their lead five minutes after the re-start.

Kevin Leadbetter was played through one-on-one with Davis, and his strike ping-ponged off the keeper and back off Leadbetter for it to fortuitously roll into the back of an empty net.

Padiham’s Stuart Telfer was forced from midfield in between the sticks after a shoulder injury to Davis shortly after Kendal’s second goal, and he pulled off some world-class saves to deny Town from running away with the game.

He pulled off an outstanding one-handed save after Leadbetter’s strike took a wicked deflection, and McEvatt forced another good save from him on the 70 minute mark after he was played in by Leadbetter.

Kieran Walmsley also dragged his shot wide after 80 minutes, and substitute Alex Taylor nodded his effort just wide three minutes later.

But Town had the match wrapped up with two minutes left to play. Ashley Dunn played the ball in and Shaun Gray powered a header that was well saved by Telfer. But the makeshift keeper failed to gather the ball, and Gray was on hand to poke it into the back of the net, securing Town’s passage into the next round of the Lancashire FA Trophy.

HOW THEY RATED – C Dootson 7, J Tucker 8, D Wisdom 7 (rep N Wainwright 79min), S Gray 8, R Winters 7, C Donnelly 7, K Walmsley 7, G McEvatt 7, M Jackson 6 (rep A Taylor 71min), A Dunn 7, K Leadbetter 8 (rep N Fairhurst 71min) STAR MAN – Kevin Leadbetter – Was a constant thorn in Padiham’s side and capped his performance off with a thoroughly deserved goal