Ambleside goalfest (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Ambleside goalfest

9:38am Friday 3rd December 2004 in Sport By Dennis Aris

Ambleside Utd 5, Ibis 0 AFTER lean pickings of late Ambleside United feasted on a confidence-goal boosting 5-0 win over Ibis, but manager Matthew Bland was as much pleased with the clean sheet as the goals.

"Realistically, when you look at the results in that we've played Kendal Town twice, Kendal County and Wetheriggs out of our seven league fixtures and there's no disgrace in losing against three of the top sides."

Bland added: "The results have gone against us, purely because of the quality of the opposition, but we have been leaking a lot of goals and that was a worry.

"Saturday's display against Ibis was a fairer reflection of what we are capable of and outside of the top three or four sides we are capable of giving anyone a contest."

Ambleside dominated for the majority of the match but half-time arrived with the scoreline still blank, although the home team had hit the bar and sent other chances wide.

Keep doing the same and the goals will come,' was the message at the interval and in the second half John Banks produced something out of the blue for Ambleside with a 25-yard shot into the corner.

Ambleside still tended to give the ball away too easily to Ibis, however, until a cross from Byron Stephenson was met by Dave Ramsey and he swivelled to put the ball beyond the keeper to make it 2-0.

That settled Ambleside nerves and was the signal for Simon Hulse to take centre-stage by hitting a hat-trick inside 15 minutes, the livewire forward running from inside his own half for two of them and combining his ability to beat men and finish expertly.

It concluded a satisfying afternoon for the Lakes side who hope to climb clear of the danger zone in coming weeks.

Kendal Co 2, Windermere 1 KENDAL County went four points clear at the top of the table when second-placed Wetheriggs United travelled to Coniston only to find the game had been postponed.

County were given a tough battle by a physical, but fair, Windermere side and there was very little between the sides in a scoreless first half of few clear-cut chances.

Windermere seized the initiative in the opening five minutes of the second half when midfielder Peter Whitehead chipped up a free kick on the wind and keeper Adam Hornby' failed to connect with an attempted punch away, leaving it to sail over him into the net from fully 40 metres out.

After that self-inflicted blow, County switched things around with Lee Blamire switching from sweeper to midfielder to give them the initiative and equalised with a penalty after Craig Walmsley was brought down from behind and got up to slot the spot-kick into the corner.

Windermere lost Andy Ford for dissent at the referee over the incident, but their 10 men still made life difficult and the elusive winning goal for County only arrived in the last 10 minutes after Jamie Parkinson and Adam Thwaites went close for the visitors.

From a goalmouth melee the ball fell to Kris Clough and he hit a first-time half-volley into the top-corner to give County the three points they wanted.

Sedbergh 1, Appleby 3 PREVIOUSLY unbeaten Sedbergh Wanderers had their six-match sequence ended by Appleby's 3-1 win.

Appleby's first goal came when a David Nugent free kick found John Coward, who slid the ball home.

By half time Appleby were 2-0 up after Bob Kinnear rounded his marker to release the ball to David Nugent, who finished from inside the penalty box.

Appleby then added a third goal in the second half when Coward latched on to a through ball to fire in. Sedbergh had Mike Harrison sent off in the closing stages and their consolation goal came from a last-minute Clyde Harris penalty.

Appleby keeper Paul Crawford made one unbelievable save to keep his side in the match, while Thomas Armstrong was outstanding in his first full game for the first team, who moved above their opponents to fourth in the table.

Penrith 3, Carleton Rov 5 PENRITH Rangers' young side went down 5-3 to Carleton Rovers in an end-to-end thriller after gifting their opponents a couple of goals.

Carleton's goals came from Matty Lea, David Salkeld, Ross Cowperthwaite, Tom Harding and Steve Balmer.

Peter Askins bagged two for Penrith and Robert Murphy the other while full back Chris Herrus made a pleasing comeback after a four-month lay-off with injury.

Dent 2, Endmoor KGR 5 IN THE Second Division, Endmoor KGR fielded one of their strongest sides for a 5-2 victory over Dent that moves them off the foot of the table.

Endmoor hauled themselves back from 2-0 down after 10 minutes with 16-year-old centre-half Liam Fisher starting the fightback with a 25-yard screamer.

Further goals followed from Clive Cwaczko, Paul Fisher and Graham Moss.

n In the Association of Northern Counties Youth Competition, the West-morland County FA side went down to a strong Northumberland outfit 7-0.

Results: Association of Northern Counties, Youth Competition: Northumberland County FA 7, Westmorland County FA 0.

Westmorland Junior Cup, second round: Penrith United 3, Shap 2; Holme Athletic 2, Ullswater United 3 (aet); Wetheriggs United Reserves 2, Sedbergh Wanderers Reserves 1; Appleby Reserves v Kendal County Reserves (postponed); Windermere SC Reserves 1 Braithwaite 2 (aet); Burneside Reserves 0, Northbank Carlisle Reserves 3; Carvetii United 5, Kirkoswald 2; Keswick Reserves 1, Greystoke 3.

Division One: Ambleside United 5, Ibis 0; Coniston v Wetheriggs United (postponed); Kendal County 2, Windermere SC 1; Penrith Rangers 3, Carleton Rovers 5; Sedbergh Wanderers 1, Appleby 3.

Division Two: Dent 2, Endmoor KGR 5; Kendal Celtic v Lunesdale United (postponed).

Division Three: Grasmere v Ambleside United Reserves (postponed); Greystoke Reserves 1, Penrith Rangers Reserves 3.

Division Four: Burneside Academy 2, Staveley United Reserves 6; Endmoor KGR Reserves 3, Coniston Reserves 3; Kendal Celtic Reserves 4, Windermere SC A 7; Lunesdale United Reserves 2, Dent Reserves 0; Shap Reserves 1, Wetheriggs United A 3.