UniBond: Kendal Town 3 - Stocksbridge PS 2 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

UniBond: Kendal Town 3 - Stocksbridge PS 2

9:34am Friday 27th August 2004 in Sport By Dennis Aris

NEW boy Kenny Mayers, a close-season capture from Barrow by manager Tony Hesketh, struck three times in 10-minutes to grab the points for Kendal Town in the opening match of their UniBond League First Division campaign.

Experienced Mayers, who was handed the captaincy for the match, sent Town into the interval with a flattering 3-0 lead.

Visitors Stocksbridge Park Steels had dominated the game for the first half-hour, but right-back Paul Rigby then showed the lacklustre midfield the way with a darting run and an immaculate defence-splitting pass for Mayers to bundle past keeper Richard Siddall.

Six minutes later Russell McKenna lifted a ball into the Stocksbridge box and Mayers, with his back to goal, volleyed over his head into the top left corner of the net.

Steels were still reeling when midfielder David Woodruffe's long ball from the left found former manager Peter Smith scurrying down the right wing. He launched an inch-perfect cross from the bye-line for Mayers to head home.

A good talking-to at half-time saw Steels take the game to Town from the start of the second half and within a minute they had pulled one back.

Duncan Richards cut across the edge of the box, drew the defence to the right then cut the ball back past keeper Mark Thornley into the left corner of the net.

Steels then saw three shots crash against the woodwork, but they did have some compensation in the 72nd minute when one of those rebounds led to Dave Burrow felling Duncan Bray in the area.

Wayne Bullimore smashed the penalty in to set up a frantic final 15 minutes, which brought several dangerous Stocksbridge raids and, at the other end, a golden opportunity for Mayers to make it four, but his snap shot went wide.

Overall, Town's back four looked secure with full-backs Rigby and Paul McMenemy outstanding, while solid Nigel Taylor could always be relied upon to get the ball away.

How they rated: Thornley 7; Rigby 8, Burrow 7, Taylor (Foster 69min 7), 8, McMenemy 8; Smith 7 (Pennington 88min 6), McKenna 6, Woodruffe 6; Whittal-Williams 7; Mayers 9; Bennett 7 (Sheppard 76min 7).