Rugby - Stoppage-time try holds Kendal to a draw (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rugby - Stoppage-time try holds Kendal to a draw

9:30pm Saturday 1st November 2008 in Sport By Gazette Sports

A STOPPAGE-time try from 14-man Fylde denied Kendal victory as the sides finished all square at 24-24 at The Woodlands on Saturday.

Kendal took three points - including a bonus-point for scoring four tries in this compelling National League 3 North encounter.

Trailing 9-0 after 15 minutes to three penalties from the boot of Fylde fly-half Steve Nutt, Kendal came back to lead 12-9 at half time with a brace of tries from inspirational skipper Ian Voortman.

Fly-half Dan Stephens converted one of them and had an interesting afternoon's kicking, hitting the uprights three times!

Back in the argument, Kendal dominated the start of the second half and after Fylde prop Darren Clark was red-carded for punching Richard Harryman, two further tries in the space of five minutes, from wingers Zane Butler and Lewis Boyd, seemed to have established a great platform to go on to record a memorable win.

Stephens converted one of the tries, but the other was controversially kicked off its tee by the Fylde defence as the fly-half lingered over the ball after the referee adjudged he had moved to start his attempt. With three minutes remaining, Flyde gave themselves hopes with a try from wing Jordan Davies, which Nutt converted.

In stoppage time, Nutt then added a peanlty, which he just scudded over the bar, to make it 24-19.

The restart kick never made ten metres, handing the ball back to Fylde, and Kendal found themselves swamped as Fylde probed for an opening deep in the 22 and replacement Mike Waywell was on hand to finish off an overlap in the corner.

Nutt slotted the conversion attempt wide - that would have been too much to bear for Kendal supporters if it had gone over - and the home fans were much happier with the draw than the Black and Ambers, who despite the disappointment still took plenty of credit for capturing three points from their third-placed opponents.