Kendal Town 2

Marine 3

Evo-Stik Premier Division

FRUSTRATION and disappointment were the overriding emotions at Parkside Road as Kendal Town let the lead slip twice against a poor Marine outfit.

Third-placed Marine lost three consecutive games before this encounter, which included heavy defeats against Whitby Town and AFC Fylde, and they played like a team lacking in confidence as they came to Parkside Road looking for a morale-boosting result.

They almost got off to the perfect start when former Kendal Town striker Nick Rogan had the goal at his mercy two minutes into the game. The ball fell to him from a corner and from 10 yards out, he leaned back and his shot went over the bar.

A couple of minutes later the Black and Whites had their first opportunity when Simon Rawnsley was put through by Mike Rushton. Rawnsley tried a first time chip from 25 yards but the attempt was meek and the keeper was able to gather easily.

The Liverpool side’s defence struggled to cope with the ball over the top all game and on 10 minutes the impressive Zach Clark gathered the ball on the left hand side. He got past full back Shaun Dowling and Mike Rushton beat his marker to get onto the end of Clark’s squared ball to give the home side the lead.

Town almost doubled their advantage in the 16th minute when Alex Salmon travelled with the ball to the edge of the area and struck the bar with a thunderous shot. The rebound fell to Clark, but he was unable to capitalise and blazed his effort over the bar.

Marine then started to get into the game and enjoyed a sustained period of possession, but their composure on the ball was non-existent as individual mistakes stopped the flow of their attacks and passes continually went astray.

Paul Lundon headed over the bar for the Liverpool-based side when he was unmarked in the box after a good cross by Will Jones, while Karl Noon shot straight at Kendal shot-stopper Ryan Robinson after Tom Berwick was caught in possession in his own half by Kevin Brown’s pass.

The rest of the first half was a tepid affair but the second half began with a bang as the visitors scored just 15 seconds into the restart.

Jones played the ball into the box and before Kendal knew it Marine had pegged the game back all square when Rogan nudged the ball home just inside the six-yard box after getting past his man.

In an action-packed beginning to the second half, the Black and Whites went ahead again in the 53rd minute. Clark gave Dowling a torrid game as he continually beat him all ends up until the full back was substituted, and he did that again on the edge of the box before cracking a wonderful shot into the top corner from out wide to put Kendal back in front in style.

The Mintcakes shipped four goals in 14 minutes against Chorley on New Year’s Day, and they once again showed a frustrating lack of concentration three minutes after Clark’s goal to allow Marine to equalise once again.

Robinson made a superb save from Jones but Rogan was able to cross the ball back in for the striker, who finished easily to make it 2-2 as Kendal spurned several opportunities to clear the ball away with some terrible defending.

Robinson was forced into a point-blank save from a Jones header just two minutes after Marine’s leveller and when he made another good save from a John Shaw shot, Kendal needed to quickly switch on to prevent Marine from taking the lead.

Kendal’s midfield seemed to disappear from the game as Marine took control of the second half, with substitute Michael Ordish playing a key role in the away side’s revival.

And in the 71st minute, Marine took the lead with a fortunate goal. Good inter-play on the edge of the box between Rogan and Jones was rewarded when the former took a shot which took a huge deflection off a Kendal defender and looped over Robinson. Had the shot not been deflected, Robinson would have been left with an easy catch.

Ben Fishwick stabbed a volley over the bar in the 74th minute as the Parkside Road outfit looked to get back into the game, but with 10 minutes left Marine could have finished the tie off had Rogan’s shot not been cleared off the line by Danny McGahan.

Salmon unleashed a strike from the edge of the box as the game teetered into injury time but Marine keeper Ryan McMahon made an excellent save to deny the on-loan man McMahon showed signs of vulnerability when collecting crosses in the air, and deep into injury time he twice dropped the ball in dangerous areas in the area, but on each occasion there were no Kendal players to take advantage of the situation and Marine held on for a much-needed victory.

It left Town facing their sixth successive defeat from a game in which they deserved and should have claimed at least a point.

Kendal Town

Ryan Robinson, Danny McGahan, Tom Berwick, Adam Freeland, Kevin Brown (c), Mike Rushton, Martin Grundy, Ben Fishwick, Simon Rawnsley, Alex Salmon, Zach Clark.

Substitutes: Aaron Halliwell for Rawnsley (75), Jack Cook for Freeland (75), Max Rothwell for Rushton (84).

Subs not used: Jamie Hastings, Dave Foster.

Yellow cards: Adam Freeland

Marine

McMahon (c), Dowling (Rice 77), Shaw, Brown, Grannon, Lawton, Noon (Ordish 56), Goulding, W Jones, Rogan, Lundon.

Subs not used: Burton, P Jones, Williams

Yellow cards: Dowling

Key man: Zach Clark - Scored a fantastic goal and set the other one up in a fantastic performance that resulted in Marine full back Shaun Dowling being substituted because he couldn’t live with the winger.

Attendance: 232