UniBond: Unbeaten in six - Kendal Town 1 - Chorley 1 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

UniBond: Unbeaten in six - Kendal Town 1 - Chorley 1

10:38am Friday 23rd April 2004 in Sport By Dennis Aris

A GUTSY defensive display extended Kendal Town's unbeaten run to six games in the UniBond League First Division.

With rain and wind sweeping the Parkside pitch on Tuesday evening it was never a night for thrilling football, but the defence exerted a steely grip which was only broken when Chorley forced a late equaliser.

The visitors had come to Kendal on the back of victories against some of the top sides and were desperate for three points to lift themselves into contention for promotion to the Premier Division, but their attack was never given an inch by Town's back four - Dave Burrow, playing his 400th game for the club, Neil Taylor, Dave Woodruffe and Paul Rigby.

Despite the early Chorley pressure it was Kendal who went ahead in the 19th minute, Dene Whittal-Williams picked up the ball on the halfway line and thundering through the middle before unleashing a 20-yard blast into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

On the half-hour James Sheppard pushed a low shot just wide and then David Foster was hustled off the ball as he shaped to shoot from a well-delivered Burrows pass.

Another strong performance in a somewhat makeshift Town side because of unavailability came from bustling Russ McKenna, who was everywhere in the centre of the park, never allowing Chorley to settle.

Ten minutes into the second half Town keeper Lee Ward made a magnificent save. As he went down he looked beaten by a deflection, but managed to throw a hand out to block the ball before scrambling to claim it from the feet of Danny Mills, who was rushing in for a follow-up.

McKenna blazed a shot over from a corner and Whittall-Williams squandered an easy chance by miscuing after being put through by Sheppard.

Despite end-to-end play it began to look as if Town would hold out for a win, then in the 85th minute a Chorley corner was half-cleared and Neil Smith seized on the loose ball to blast it into the net through a ruck of players.