Football – Kendal lose in pulsating finish (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Football – Kendal lose in pulsating finish

5:35pm Saturday 14th March 2009

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THREE goals in the last ten minutes saw Kendal finish on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline in Guiseley as Town were denied their share of the points in a even game.

A very strong wind and a poor playing surface made life extremely difficult for both sides, and for large spells of the match each set of players seemed happier to keep the ball in the air than on the unpredictable pitch.

A Michael Cole penalty on 24 minutes wiped out Chris Davey's 21 minute finish and with the scores at 1-1 going into the last ten minutes it looked like both sides would take a point from the match.

But on 81 minutes a Guiseley corner was carried on the wind to the back post where defender Jerome Fitzgerald headed the ball back in the direction it had come and skipper Ryan Crossley was on hand to convert from close range.

Town were furious and appealed that the corner had gone out, but their protests fell on deaf ears and in a final roll of the dice Ashcroft sent on Mulvaney and Osman for the last few minutes of normal play.

It proved an inspired switch by the manager. With a minute of normal time remaining Mulvaney picked up the ball on the left hand side and ran at the home defence. The winger battled his way to the by-line before beating another defender and drilling a fierce shot into the net from an acute angle to send the travelling support into rapturous applause.

Cruelly for Kendal there was to be one final twist. Deep into the signalled three minutes of injury time Guiseley got the ball wide to substitute Adam Muller, and the winger fizzed a low cross into the Town area and James Hason was on hand to side foot in the winner for the home side and rob Kendal of a point they will feel they had earned.

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