Football - Hobson dismissed as Kendal lose 4-0 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Football - Hobson dismissed as Kendal lose 4-0

5:45pm Saturday 30th August 2008 in Sport By Arran Jolly

It was a bad day at the office all round for Kendal Town in Nantwich as they went down 4-0 the to Cheshire side, with Craig Hobson sent off and player manager Lee Ashcroft missing a second half penalty.

Kendal were without skipper Tony Hallam at the back, and right from the off it was evident Town’s back four of Melling, Murphy, Stanley and Byrne were in for a long afternoon.

After Town had got the game underway Nantwich wasted no time in getting on the score sheet, going 1-0 up after only two minutes. Poor communication at the back from Kendal saw Murphy needlessly head a innocuous long cross back up into his own area, leaving Glyn Blackhurst with time and room to athletically volley past the Newnes.

Kendal tried to respond immediately camping themselves in the home side's half, however their decent bank holiday form was nowhere to be seen as passes were misplaced and possession given away cheaply. Newnes made a good save with his feet on 17 minutes, however it didn’t take long for Nantwich to find their way though the Town defence again.

After receiving the ball just inside the Town half, Michael Lennon dribbled down the left tricking his way past Kilford, on reaching the by-line the forward squared a simple pass to the un-marked Shotton who buried the ball to double the home advantage.

While Carl Osman briefly reinvigorated the visitors with some decent running and forced a neat save from Lee Jones on 24 minutes, Kendal’s defence were now rudderless and a third goal followed on 28 minutes.

Having collected the ball just on the edge of the area from a thrown in, Peter Heler dummied his way along the edge of the area beating four Town players in the process, just as it look as if he had run up a dead-end the Nantwich man unleashed a bending shot which flew into the left corner of the net bringing the home supporters to their feet and handing his side a convincing 3-0 to take into the break.

Lee Ashcroft was first out the dressing room at half time, throwing himself into the action in an attempt to get something from the game. Town did carve out several half chances, with Hobson firing over from a good position and Cole heading wide, but their best chance of the afternoon came on the 64th minute when Kilford was knocked over in the box, with the referee awarding a penalty.

Ashcroft placed the ball on the spot, and struck it low to the keepers left, however Jones guessed right and preserved his clean sheet.

If there was any lingering hope for a Town come-back it vanished on the 70 minutes when Craig Hobson was sent off for his second bookable offence, leaving Town’s ten men to fight out the last 20 minutes.

Nantwich were now seeing out the clock with possession football, however they bagged a fourth on 86 minutes after a terrible Ian Kilford back pass had been chased down, while Newnes got to the ball first his clearance rebounded off Danny Griggs, and left Dave Walker to head into the unguarded net.

Town looked glad to hear the final whistle and must now re-group ahead of their next game this coming Tuesday against Guiseley.