KENDAL Town won 1-0 at Droylsden on Saturday afternoon, with Gareth Arnison's first-half penalty proving to be the difference in an otherwise uneventful encounter.

Kendal, visiting Droylsden on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Prescot Cables, created the better of the chances in the early exchanges.

Gavin Clarke was the first to go close in the Greater Manchester sunshine, but he could only fire over the bar with five minutes played, while Arnison saw an early effort on goal well saved by Richie Branagan.

Droylsden’s main attacking threat came through former Kendal Town player Sefton Gonzales, who created a number of opportunities which were all saved by the Mintcakes' on-loan goalkeeper Matthew Johnson.

Kendal opened the scoring after 31 minutes when referee Mark Powell pointed to the penalty spot after Arnison had been felled in the box by Branagan as he looked to break the deadlock.

He picked himself up to take the spot kick and placed the ball past Branagan as Kendal went 1-0 up.

From that point, Droylsden offered very little in front of goal, while Kendal almost doubled their advantage when Sam Staunton Turner fired wide.

Kendal missed a good chance at the start of the second half when Paul Dawson saw his effort saved at the near post by Branagan.

Droylsden controlled the ball without creating too much in front of goal while Kendal sat back.

The best of Droylsden's opportunities fell to Ciaran Kilheeney who saw his goal bound effort deflect for a corner, while Gonzales headed over the bar.

Droylsden nearly snatched a point in injury time when Shaquille Clarke fired his shot past the far post.

But the Mintcakes held on to secure all three points.

Kendal Town line-up:

1, Matthew Johnson, 2, Daniel McGahon, 3, Ben Thomas, 4, Gavin Clark, 5, Paul Alexander (C), 6, Jacob Davis, 7, Paul Dawson, 8, Sam Staunton Turner, 9, Gareth Arnison, 10, Steven Yawson, 11, Matthew Clarke.

Substitutes: Gary Basterfield, Thomas Newton, Martin Grundy, Stuart McDonald.