Kendal Town 1

Chorley 4

Evo-Stik Premier Division

IT WAS a game of two halves at Parkside Road as Chorley thumped four second half goals past Kendal Town to leave manager Steve Edmondson still searching for his first points as boss.

The first half was a real war of attrition as both sides battled it out to gain the advantage.

It wasn’t until the 15th minute when the chances started to flow as Chorley’s Porya Ahmardi tried to cut the ball back to Adam Roscoe, but Martin Grundy made an excellent defensive header to thwart the danger.

From the resulting corner Tom Berwick, deputising at left back, blocked the ball on the line following a header by Chorley skipper Andy Teague, and Kendal tried to hit the Magpies on the counter attack but Alex Salmon could only fire the ball into the legs of visiting keeper Jack Cudworth.

Zach Clark strayed offside for the Black and Whites when Simon Rawnsley tried to play him in a couple of minutes later and in minute 21, Andy Russell had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring for Chorley with a free header from a corner but his chance went begging.

It was an even affair watched on by a bumper crowd of 305, and they had something to cheer about two minutes before half time when Kendal got their goal.

After good work on the right hand side the ball was fed into Maison McGeechan, who unleashed a low left-footed shot from 20 yards that sweetly struck the back of the net as the ball soared past Cudworth’s outstretched right hand.

Seven minutes of injury time were played in the first half due to three long delays as players received treatments for various knocks, and at the start of those extra minutes, Salmon took too much time with his shot from the edge of the box after great work on the right once again by McGeechan.

The second half started where it left off for Kendal as they took the game to Chorley and posed threats to the visitors from all over the pitch.

Six minutes into the second half and Jack Cook played a wonderful 30-yard, cross-field throughball from midfield to McGeechan, who had got in behind Tom Walker, and only a sensational save by Cudworth kept the winger’s effort out.

Kevin Brown once again proved his worth for Town with a great goal-saving tackle on Roscoe. Kendal captain Craig Dootson came out of his goal and closed down Ahmadi, who squared his effort for Roscoe, but the centre back came across with a crunching tackle in the six-yard box to keep the Mintackes ahead.

Then on 57 minutes Salmon had a glorious chance to put his side 2-0 up when he was one-on-one with the keeper, but he could only place his shot wide of the post.

It proved to be extremely costly as Chorley delivered a hammer blow to the home side by scoring twice in two minutes.

Ahmardi crossed the ball into the box and Teague couldn’t miss the open goal from a yard out as he blasted the ball into the net to equalise.

And in the 61st minute, Roscoe played a superb one-two to create space for himself just inside the box, and he finished with aplomb to completely turn the game on its head.

Roscoe began to run the show from the hour mark as Kendal’s midfield seemed to disappear from the game, and their defending wasn’t much better for Chorley’s third goal in the 67th minute.

A throw was allowed to bounce in the box and evade everybody as Russell stooped down and gratefully headed the ball beyond Dootson to create daylight between the sides.

And Chorley made it four in the 73rd minute when Teague was left unmarked from a corner, and he powered into the box to rifle an unstoppable header past Dootson to put the game to bed.

Five minutes later and Kendal’s Dean Overson nearly scored a bizarre own goal when Berwick cleared the ball straight into the centre back on the edge of the area, and the ball luckily went out for a corner.

But the match was over as a contest by then, and Kendal were made to pay for a crazy 14-minute spell early in the second half in which four goals were scored by Chorley.

Kendal Town

Craig Dootson (c), Danny McGahan, Tom Berwick, Jack Cook, Kevin Brown, Dean Overson, Martin Grundy, Maison McGeechan, Simon Rawnsley, Alex Salmon, Zach Clark.

Substitutes: Max Rothwell for Cook (71), Mike Barron for Salmon (71), Paul Alexander for Brown (74).

Subs not used: Alex Ralph, Nick Hayton.

Yellow cards: Zach Clark.

Chorley

Cudworth, Ross, Cunliffe (Walker 34) (Garner 77), O’Brian, Russell, Whitham, Roscoe, Teague (c), Ahmardi (Breen 81), Stephenson, Ince.

Subs not used: Flitcroft, Parrilion.

Yellow cards: Ross, Ince, Garner

Key man: Maison McGeechan - Took his goal brilliantly and caused problems for the full backs all afternoon.

Attendance: 305