Football - Town firing well for FA Cup test (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Football - Town firing well for FA Cup test

9:30am Saturday 13th September 2008 in Sport By Gazette Sports

SEPTEMBER has all the early signs of being a great month for Kendal Town, writes Arran Jolly. Back-to-back wins have seen Lee Ashcroft's men shooting up the Unibond Premier Division table to seventh place.

But with just two points now separating Town and table toppers Ashton United, Saturday's F.A Cup qualifier between the two team takes on an added sense of occasion.

Town boss Lee Ashcroft said; "Everyone wants to beat the league leaders, and I know we've got a squad capable of doing that. They play a 3-5-2, which will suit us down to the ground as we'll get the ball wide to our danger men.

“Historically we do well at Ashton and hopefully we can go there and have a good Cup run."

Kendal will travel to Ashton without suspended striker Craig Hobson. But with five different players getting on the scoresheet in the last two games, Town will be confident of causing plenty of problems for Greater Manchester outfit.

"When we're on top of our game we can score goals of real quality. We did that on Tuesday, we are a difficult side to defend against” added Ashcroft.

Kendal kick off against Ashton is at 3pm and if a replay is needed it will be next Tuesday. Town's next home fixture is on Saturday, September 20, against Frickley Athletic.

Kendal Town.....…..4 Cammell Laird...…..2

KENDAL Town midfielder Michael Cole made amends for a red card at the weekend, scoring twice in the midweek fixture against Cammell Laird as Town ran out 4-2 winners in an entertaining game.

Supporters were still making their way into the ground when Town took the lead after only two minutes.

Call Warburton’s looping cross drew Laird keeper Richard Whiteside to punch clear, but the ball fell to Cole, who volleyed home from outside the box.

Less than than a minute later, Laird were level as keeper David Newnes, who misjudged a tame cross-cum-shot, allowed Mark Reed's effort to dribble over the line.

But the greasy surface did not seem to worry Town as they strung together some slick passing football and on ten minutes they were back in front.

Carl Osman tricked his way past a defender on the right wing before finding Neil Murphy, who squared a clever ball through the defensive line.

Lee Ashcroft timed his run perfectly to beat the defence and fired past the keeper.

Kendal were now purring and some lovely sweeping moves had Laird chasing shadows.

It came as little surprise when Town extended their lead on 26 minutes with Osman once again orchestrating his former club’s undoing.

After a lovely piece of skill brought a high cross under control, the winger cut inside and found a perfect pass to find Cole behind the visitors’ defence with time to fire low to the keeper's bottom right.

Kendal looked to have the game wrapped up before half time. However, a breakaway by Eddie Jebb five minutes from the break set up Danny Desormeaux, who fired past Newnes from close range.

While Kendal ran the show in the first 45 minutes, the second half was a different story as they struggled to re-create their fine first-half form.

Several half-chances from Laird and some controversial refereeing combined to create an uneasy feeling among the fans, while the Town players also looked to have lost their composure.

However on 74 minutes, Lee Mulvaney's brilliant individual goal banished any feeling of anxiety.

Cutting in from his left wing berth, the No. 11 dummied two defenders on the edge of the area to engineer some room before firing a low drive that hit the left post and flew along the line and finally went in off the right post.

Kendal had David Newnes to thank for a comfortable last 15 minutes.

The Town keeper made an athletic save to deny a Desormeaux header late on, leaving Kendal to play possession football to round off a great night for them after scoring four goals of the highest quality.

Team: Newnes 7, Murphy 8, Byrne 7, Wordsworth 7, Melling 7, Warburton 8, Osman 8, Ashcroft 7 (Anthony Murt 71), Taylor 7 (Hobson 78), Cole 8 (Williams 84), Mulvaney 7. Att: 188 K Star man: Michael Cole - showed a full range of passing ability and bagged two goals.