Kendal Town…............…0 - Witton Albion..........2 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Kendal Town…............…0 - Witton Albion..........2

8:34am Friday 31st August 2007 in Sport By Dennis Aris

WELL-organised Witton set a standard which Town must at least match as they won more cosily than the 2-0 margin suggests on Bank Holiday Monday.

Lee Ashcroft's men struggled to hold the last season's beaten play-off finalists, whose precise passing and penetrating running knocked them off their stride.

It meant an early work for Town keeper Ryan Smith, whose fine reaction save denied Dorryl Porritt before Mark Peers flashed the rebound over the bar.

More close calls followed as an Alex Brown shot skimmed the bar and a couple of crosses flew across the goal-line, but Town might still have broken the deadlock themselves after 19 minutes.

Young striker Craig Hobson chested the ball into Scott Redhead's path for a run down the right and Peter Wright swept on to the low cross only for the ball to get stuck under his boot as he went to shoot.

Midfield was a problem area for Town and the tactics of Redhead tucking inside to add creativity failed to work. Instead it left one flank exposed and Witton were quick to exploit the empty space.

Even so, Town had another chance to go ahead ten minutes later when Dene Whittal-Williams header from an uncleared corner left Hobson with a clear opportunity.

However, after turning smartly on to the ball, he hestitated, allowing a defender to hook it away from him.

Town's defence had survived 35 minutes when Witton prroduced one-touch football from the halfway line that finished with Proffitt picking out the unmarked Brown and he slotted his angled shot across Smith into the top corner.

Only five minutes later, Witton were 2-0 up when Smith failed to gather Peers' corner and Pritchard headed in back across goal for Rob Lloyd to nod into the net Town restored balance to the side as Leigh replaced Redhead at half time and brought some defensive resilience on the flank.

He took up a promising position after 55 minutes but fired straight at the keeper and then mintues later Wright teed up a shot from outside the box for Ian Kilford but he blasted it wide.

Wright latched on to Lee Mulvaney's cheeky back-heel and drew a full-length stop from Jon Kennedy as Town went unrewarded for their best passage of play.

Instead Witton broke out and keeper Smith atoned for his early misdemeanour with a diving save from Pritchard from a corner.

With no breakthrough forthcoming, manager Lee Ashcroft brought himself off the bench for the first time this season, replacing John Fowler as Town turned to a three-man attack.

Ashcroft delivered a 67th-minute corner for full back Nathan Woods to make good contact but his header flew wide.

Witton had curbed a lot of their attacking ambition by this stage and were never stretched afterwards as Town ran out of ideas and, for all their hard work, lacked a cutting edge when and where it counted.

HOW THEY RATED: Smith 5, Henry 6, Woods 7, Sparrow 7, Whittal-Williams 7, Fowler 6 (Ashcroft 58min, 6), Redhead 5 (Leigh 45min 7), Kilford 6, Hobson 5, Wright 7, Mulvaney 6. Att: 308 I STAR MAN: Nathan Woods: Solid display when switched to full back.