UniBond Football - Glowing cup display from Hobson (From The Westmorland Gazette)

UniBond Football - Glowing cup display from Hobson

12:52pm Saturday 29th November 2008 in Sport By Arran Jolly

IF ONE player was chosen to encapsulate Kendal Town’s increasingly impressive season it would be young striker Craig Hobson, writes Arran Jolly.

Sent off against Nantwich Town in August as Town went down 4-0 at the Weaver Stadium, Hobson had spent much of his afternoon on the periphery of that game.

While his relentless chasing of balls displayed plenty of huff and puff it bore no end result and the forward was sent to the stands as his frustration manifested in clumsy tackles.

Kendal had to wait three months before they could line up against Nantwich again and atone for that 4-0 battering. And on a cold Tuesday night at the Parkside Road Ground Town showed that three months can change an awful lot in football and none made that point more emphatically than Hobson.

The striker scored twice in a 4-1 victory for Town. While the brace will keep Hobson among the league's top scorers, more impressive was how his overall game has developed since the start of the season.

The Nantwich defence looked stuck for answers every time Hobson posed questions.

The 20-year-old has evidently learnt a great deal from player/manager Lee Ashcroft, and was holding the ball up - often against more than one Nantwich player - magnificently.

News broke this week that striker Alex Taylor is to have a hernia operation following a injury problem.

The injury will keep the striker out of this weekend’s game away at Frickley Athletic and Taylor is not expected to return for at least six weeks.

Kendal have slipped just outside the promotion places having not played over the weekend and currently sit in sixth spot. However, Town are only a single point behind third placed Marine with two games in hand. Kendal face Frickley Athletic away from home this Saturday as they look to move back up the table. Kendal Town 4.

Nantwich 1.

KENDAL Town sent last season's Unibond Challenge Cup winners crashing out the competition with an emphatic 4-1 win over Nantwich at the Parkside Road ground on Tuesday night.

It was sweet revenge for the 4-0 league defeat the Cheshire club inflicted on Town earlier in the season and fast-improving striker Craig Hobson sealed the victory with two more goals.

Fresh off the back of a 10-day break from league and cup action Kendal looked raring to go and took the lead after only six minutes.

An excellent performance from Ian Kilford saw the former Wigan man have a hand in three of the goals and he did well to pick out the equally impressive Hobson on the left corner of the Nantwich box with a sweeping pass.

The striker had plenty of options but ignored several runs and picked out Mulvaney who was steaming into the 18-yard box. The winger shaped to shoot but instead feigned and slipped the ball across the box to Osman on the right.

The winger put the recovering defender on the floor with a quick turn and then unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top right corner of the net from close range.

Nantwich, who had arrived less than half and hour before kick-off, still looked as though they were warming up.

Kendal had complete control of the midfield with Warburton and Kilford linking up well and th home team went close on 22 minutes.

Hobson spun his man with a lovely turn and picked out Mulvaney's run with a perfectly weighted pass but the winger shot just wide.

For all of Kendal's dominance, Nantwich hauled themselves back into the game on 29 minutes.

The referee decided Paul Byrne held back a Nantwich player in a crowded box and pointed to the penalty spot.

Up stepped Dave Walker, who fired a powerful low shot low towards the right corner. Keeper Newnes guessed right though and palmed the ball away with his diving save.

Unfortunately for Kendal, Walker was quickest to the rebound and fired past the stranded Newnes to level the scores.

Kendal responded with neat flowing passing football but a telling final pass eluded them until three mintues before the break.

After collecting a long clearance, Hobson did well to hold off defenders and Kilford arrived from midfield and pinged a cross to substitute Danny Wisdom, who crashed a half volley past Lee Jones in the Nantwich goal.

Kendal were rampant and two minutes later Wisdom turned provider, hitting a inch-perfect cross into the area for Hobson to get in front of his marker and sidefoot his shot low into the right-hand corner of the goal.

Turning round 3-1 up, Kendal looked keen to maintain their superiority in the second half and apart from Newnes producing a routine save from a Robin Gibson volley it was all one-way traffic. The result was put beyond any doubt on 65 minutes when Ian Kilford sent a lovely ball from the right to the back post for Hobson to outjump two Nantwich players challenging him and head home.

Carl Osman might have scored again on 80 minutes had it not been for a blatant hack from Richard Smith, who cut down the winger several metres outside the Natwich area.

Otherwise Kendal comfortably saw out the remainder of the match, with six late yellow cards as the only blemish on an otherwise successful night for Kendal.

TEAM: Newnes 7, Standley 8 (Williams 75, 6), Byrne 7, Hallam 7, Melling 7, Warburton 7, Osman 7, Hobson 9, Taylor 7 (Baker 65, 6), Kilford 8, Mulvaney 6 (Wisdom. 25, 7). * Star Man: Craig Hobson - a contest between him and Ian Kilford, but the striker had the Nantwich defence sussed and caused headaches all night.