Kendal Town 3 Whitby Town 3 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Kendal Town 3 Whitby Town 3

9:46am Friday 19th December 2008 in Sport By Arran Jolly

A LAST-gasp equaliser from winger Carl Osman secured Town a well-earned point after they showed tremendous spirit to come behind twice to snatch the draw.

Fans braving the December temperatures were rewarded with a hugely entertaining conclusion to the match with four goals flying in during the last 20 minutes. It was as much as they deserved as both teams had laboured sometimes to come to terms with a sticky pitch just thawed after days of frost.

The pitch was not alone in looking a bit worse-for-wear. Following a fortnight on the sidelines Town by no means fired on all cylinders, Even so, Kendal had the better of the first half chances.

Lee Ashcroft set up Alex Taylor for one on one on seven minutes and visiting keeper Przenysllaw Kazinrczak did well to dive to his left and knock the ball away.

The linesman's flag spared George Melling's blushes after the Town centre-back had given the ball away to Karl Charlton.

With the No. 11 bearing down on Newnes the linesman flagged for an off-the-ball infringement.

On 28 minutes Ashcroft released Osman an excellent long-range pass.

A perfectly weighted ball fell in between the defensive line and penalty area and brought Kazinrcazak racing out of his goal only for Osman to beat him to the ball. With two defenders desperately trying to tackle him, the winger created space for himself and chipped the stranded keeper from well outside the area on 29 minutes.

Despite Kendal's growing dominance at the back end of the first half, Whitby came out of the interval with redoubled resolution and scored quickly.

On 49 minutes Danny Brunskill fired past Newnes from the edge of the area after good work down the left had sucked Town's in defence.

The game took a decisive turn on 63 minutes when Karl Charlton was sent off for an off-the-ball altercation with David Standley.

With Whitby down to ten men, they might have been expected to try to ride out the rest of the game and hold on to their point. But to their credit they continued to push forward and took the lead on 71 minutes as Tom Raw slid on to a low Brunskill cross to find the net. However, Whitby's lead only lasted five minutes as Michael Cole scored a stunning equaliser.

The midfielder received the ball with his back to goal, turned and sent the ball scorching into the top corner from 25 yards out.

Town eagerly pushed forward and substitute Danny Wisdom saw a Whitby defender hack his effort off the goal-line It was typical of this see-sawing game that Whitby went back ahead and it came with a fantastic solo goal from Tony Hackworth who put them 3-2 up on 89 minutes. With four minutes of injury time signalled, Town threw everyone, including keeper Newnes, forward and salvaged a point deep into the added time.

An Ian Kilford free kick from the left was only half cleared by the keeper and in the resulting mêlée Osman fired low into the net to level the scores and be mobbed by his team-mates.

There was just enough time to restart before the referee blew the final whistle.

HOW THEY RATED: Newnes 6, Williams 7, Standley 7, Hallam 6, Melling 7, Cole 8, Osman 8, Ashcroft 7, ( Wisdom 52min, 6), Hobson 7, Kilford 7, Taylor 7 ( Mulvaney 87min) Att: 189.

I STAR MAN: Carl Osman - his equaliser to claim a point could be hugely important for Town come what May.