Football - Cole bags brace as Kendal see off Cammell Laird (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Football - Cole bags brace as Kendal see off Cammell Laird

11:00pm Tuesday 9th September 2008 in Sport By Arran Jolly

KENDAL midfielder Michael Cole grabbed two first-half goals as his side ran out 4-2 winners over a plucky Cammell Laird.

With heavy rain before kick-off, the game got under way on what was clearly a sticky pitch. However, with a goal for each side in the opening three minutes, the soggy conditions failed to dampen a fantastic first half of football.

Kendal raced into the lead through Cole, who hit a superb volley from outside the area over the stranded Richard Whiteside on two minutes. But Laird equalised straight from the kick off through Mark Reed, who beat David Newnes with a soft goal to level the scores.

The scores did not remain level for long, with player-manager Lee Ashcroft retoring the home advantage on ten minutes. Following Ashcroft’s goal, Kendal settled into a settled rhythm of play and put together several sweeping moves from one end of the pitch to another.

It came as little surprise when they claimed a third goal. Cole grabbed his second of the night by rounding off a move he had started with a free kick just inside the visitors' half.

Laird did get a goal back on the stroke of half time, via Danny Desormeaux, but it was Kendal who looked the stronger going into the interval.

But the second half was a different story, Town looked tired and allowed Laird to start controlling possession. For a while an equaliser looked almost inevitable as Kendal failed to recreate their first-half form.

However, a fine individual goal from Lee Mulvaney on 74 minutes killed off any chance of a Laird come-back and ensured Kendal claimed all three points and continued their recent spell of good form.