Kendal Seconds 15

Millom 20

KENDAL Seconds failed to add another win to the tally as they went down 20-15 in a feisty encounter at Mint Bridge.

There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing at the beginning of the game as both sides looked to gain stranglehold on the match, with Neil Shaw kicking an eighth minute penalty for Millom as the visitors edged in front.

Kendal’s backs showed some of the promise that helped them to defeat Windermere last week with a couple of nice flowing moves which enabled them to win a penalty in the 16th minute.

And in a You’ve Been Framed moment for anyone watching the game with a video camera, Nathan Wooff struck the penalty from around 35 metres out going towards the right hand side. His effort hit the crossbar and broke it, which resulted in a 10-minute delay to the game as the bar was being replaced.

Millom looked strong among their forwards and were making good progress forward, but Kendal defended like lions, with Kendal’s Daniel Greenwood getting one huge tackle in on Jason Metcalfe on the 24th minute.

From the 33rd minute the game took on a different tack. Kendal were looking to clear the danger through the passing along their backs to the left wing, but the referee gave the mysterious decision of awarding a penalty to Millom. Kendal’s players were incensed, which resulted in them being penalised 10 yards for the dissent.

With the penalty kicked into touch just in front of Kendal’s tryline, the Black and Ambers had a huge task in trying to prevent the try, and they failed in that task as Millom drove the ball over the whitewash under a sea of bodies.

A brawl then ensued as ill discipline got the better of the game, which resulted in Craig Mounsey and Jamie Kershaw being sinbinned along with a Kendal man.

But despite being a man down it was Millom who attacked at Kendal again after Wooff failed to kick the ball 10 yards from the restart after the try.Simon Pearson evaded a couple of tackles in one run for Millom, which Kendal defended stoutly.

Then Kendal had an even better chance of getting back into the game when a Millom player was booked two minutes into first half injury time, meaning the Black and Ambers had 14 players left on the pitch and Millom had just 12.

The backs once again utilised the ball well as they passed to full back Peter Baynes on the left wing. He kicked a precision ball forward as the ball stayed just within the pitch, and deep within Millom territory he continued to kick along the ground until he dove onto the ball when he was over the tryline to make it 8-5 at half time.

Millom started the better in the second half and the Black and Ambers were forced into some superb defending on their own tryline right from the off, but that pressure told in the 49th minute.

Kendal had gained 10 yards when Millom players were punished for dissent, but the away side claimed the ball back and shifting the ball to the left hand side, they put in a massive drive as the forwards collapsed over the line to put them 13-5 up.

Five minutes later Kendal had a great opportunity to get back in the game when Leo Mercer got past his man and worked the ball to Jamie Postlethwaite. The winger however was thwarted as his pacy run was stopped by a Millom player and had he got past him, Kendal would have been afforded a gilt-edged chance of recouping the eight-point deficit.

Confusion reigned in the 63rd minute when a Millom forward went over the line under the posts and the referee gave a try, only for the official to bring the game back to the 22 after failing to spot that a Millom player had been in touch earlier in the move, which was flagged by the man running the left hand touchline.

But two minutes later, Millom had their third try of the game anyway. They kept progressing well with the ball and they got the better of the Kendal defence to score a try under the posts, Shaw adding the extras to make it 20-5.

The Black and Ambers had 15 minutes to get back into the game, and on the 70th minute they began that recovery process when replacement Matty Jackson scored a try. With the Millom players asleep inside their own 22, Kendal tapped quickly and after a couple of passes, Jackson had space to run the try in to make it 20-10, with the conversion missed.

Wooff tried to find Postlethwaite with an enormous kick as the 80th minute approached, but his kick went too far and the winger couldn’t get onto the end of it.

From the right hand side as the match ticked into injury time, Wooff put in a sumptuous crossfield kick, and the ball was passed out for Baynes on the left to get his second try of the game and reduce the score to 20-15.

Wooff missed the conversion attempt but the try proved to be too little too late as the referee blew the full time whistle straight after the failed kick.

Starting Line-ups

Kendal Seconds

David Peacock, Ken Houghton, Calvert Gilpin, James Thompson, Ben Leacock, Daniel Greenwood, Liam Nicholson, Ian Ross, Jordan Johnson, Nathan Wooff, Jamie Postlethwaite, Graham Coulter, Leo Mercer, Tony Bingham (c), Peter Baynes.

Millom

Cummings, Doyle, Maguire, Redhead (c), Metcalfe, Benn, Long, Woodburn, Fisher, Park, Clark, Kershaw, Pearson, Mounsey, Shaw.