UniBond: Woodley Sports 2 -Kendal Town 2 (From The Westmorland Gazette)

UniBond: Woodley Sports 2 -Kendal Town 2

8:28am Friday 10th September 2004 in Sport By Dennis Aris

NEWCOMERS Woodley Sports made Kendal Town work extremely hard for an away point at Lambeth Stadium, Stockport, on Tuesday.

Former Carlisle United player Michael Jack made his Kendal debut on the right side of midfield. The 22-year-old was snapped up by Town manager Tony Hesketh to strengthen the squad following a brief spell at UniBond League Premier Division Club Spennymoor United.

In what was a keenly-contested affair from start to finish, former North West Counties side Woodley showed that they have adapted to life in the UniBond First Division with a physical presence in midfield and lively frontmen.

Town goalkeeper Mark Thornley was in excellent form, making two vital early blocks to deny efforts from Clive Brown and Mike Norton.

In what was a precarious start for Kendal they suffered a blow when hard-tackling centre-half Dave Burrow picked up a head injury in the fifth minute, which later led to his replacement by Dave Woodruffe.

Utility player Dene Whittal-Williams twice went close with headers then Woodley's pacy winger Simon Hackney outstripped the Town defence only to be denied by the impressive Thornley.

Kendal broke through on 36 minutes when Kenny Mayers was ideally positioned to poke the ball past keeper Richard Acton.

Woodley levelled the scores five minutes later when Brown shot on the turn to guide the ball past Thornley, but on the stroke of half-time a low shot from Ricky Mercer crept inside the Woodley posts and sent Town into the interval with a 2-1 lead.

The home side, playing with enthusiasm carried over from Saturday's 9-0 bruising of Willington in the FA Cup, almost squared things up on the hour, but Nigel Taylor blocked Norton's effort.

On 70 minutes the hosts got the goal they had been pressing for when Carlos Meakin hammered in an equaliser and Kendal had to work hard for the remaining 20 minutes to claim a hard-earned point.

How they rated: Thornley 9; Rigby 8, Burrow 7 (Woodruffe 6 from 40 minutes), Taylor 7, McMenemy 7; Mercer 8, Jack 7, McKenna 8, Sheppard 6 (Smith 7 from 67 minutes); Whittal-Williams 8; Mayers 8.