THREE quickfire Bamber Bridge goals in the opening 11 minutes stunned a leaky Kendal defence as they crashed out of the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy on Tuesday night.

Stuart Vasey broke the deadlock after eight minutes before Brig's leading goalscorer Andrew Bell doubled the advantage two minutes later. Greg Johnston made it three before a stunning 25 yard Tommy Watson strike reduced the arrears.

Kendal fought hard in the second-half but were delivered a sucker punch when former Mintcakes striker Darren Green scored on the counter-attack late on. A Ricky Mercer volley moments later gave Kendal hope again but once again their defensive frailties cost dearly as they exited the cup.

Manager Michael Stringfellow made two changes to the side that played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with New Mills on Saturday.

In-form Jordan Connerton dropped to the bench and was replaced in the starting 11 by Mark Jackson. Zach Clark also made way for 17-year-old Reece Fishwick, once on the books of Everton, while Craig Carney slotted into right-back as injury keeps Kieran Walmsley out of the team.

Former Town full-back Glenn Steel started for the Sir Tom Finney Stadium outfit while Green started on the bench.

With 32 goals between them since Brig beat Kendal at the end of the October there was little surprise this was an open and attacking affair.

Brig took the lead early on when Vasey exchanged a 1-2 with Johnstone before lifting the ball over Danny MacDonald. And when Kendal skipper Warren Beattie got caught under a high ball Bell took advantage to round MacDonald and slot past a defender on the line.

It got worse for Kendal on 11 minutes when former Preston North End midfielder Paul McKenna made a defence-splitting pass. The ball was squared to Johnstone who made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the net.

There was an instant response when Watson lashed in a left-footed drive on 13 minutes before both Jackson and Pickup missed good chances before the break.

The second half started in similar attacking fashion but wastefulness in front of goal saw no change to the scoreline until the 83rd minute.

With Kendal pushing to get back in the game and committing men forward, Brig broke and Green, one-on-one with MacDonald poked the ball home.

That, however, was not the end of the scoring. Nick Rogan won a corner and Pickup delivered an out-swinging cross to the edge of the box where Mercer showed all the qualities you would expect from a striker to smash home a low volley past Harry Campbell.