9:22am Friday 28th April 2006
By Dennis Aris
ALL the efforts of the season boil down to a fascinating final 90 minutes of football which should draw a bumper crowd to the Planet Conservatories Stadium tomorrow (Saturday), write Dennis Aris.
In the biggest match for many years, Town will be either bidding for the UniBond League First Division title, celebrating promotion, or battling to avoid the lottery of the play-off knockout.
With key UniBond League matches being played last night Kendal might already have done enough to finish no worse that runners-up, but manager Tony Hesketh was urging supporters to come on down to Parkside Road in droves to help his team over the final hurdle of an exciting season.
"We can still finish first, second, third or fourth as we speak (Wednesday), but a point is enough to secure promotion and that is the minimum we must be looking for on Saturday.
"If Woodley have already dropped points the Shepshed match will become a huge promotion celebration, but there is no guarantee of that and we might find ourselves involved in quite a battle.
"We will be going all out for automatic promotion in either first or second place, but I also have to keep half an eye out for the possibility of play-off games on Monday and the following Saturday, if we slip up.
Hesketh said his starting line-up for the final league match of the season is unlikely to differ greatly from the winning side he put out at Stocksbridge on Tuesday evening.
"Lee Ashcroft had a cortisone injection on Monday and is nowhere nearly fully fit, but he provides us with a quality that not many players have and his presence is vital. We got an hour out of him at Stocksbridge and I guess we will do much the same on Saturday.
"I would expect the back four to be the same and will include Paul Sparrow, who was very brave on Tuesday. Although he is only just back from a broken cheekbone, he was always prepared if the situation called for it to, without fear, put his head where it might get hurt .
"I left Chris Ward and Stuart Cliff out of the starting line-up at Stocksbridge, although they have played most of the games in recent weeks with Ward in particular having to do a lot of work by himself up front.
"That is no reflection as they have both had good seasons for us, I just need a team to get us over the final hurdle.
"That's why I decided to go with a bench of Peter Smith, who is excellent in the last 10 minutes at holding the ball up. Russ McKenna who provides deep cover on the left-hand side and midfield and Dene Whittall-Williams who can play in three places down the spine of the team.
"It was a nervous, but exciting night at Stocksbridge. I thought we were always in control, but never safe until the final whistle.
"It was a very strong team performance and the back four were superb again, in fact I can't single anyone out from the whole team.
"They showed determination and committment in a game where chances were few and far between for us. A 1-0 away from home was a good result for us and massive after the disappointment at Spalding on Saturday.
"It's was four to five-hour journey to Spalding to play on a pitch which had been used for a charity match in the morning. The surface was lively and there was a gale force wind blowing down the middle. That may sound like excuses, but they are all significant factors.
"Two minutes into the game Ricky Mercer was involved in a clash of heads and was treated four times to stem the flow of blood before we eventually took him off for good on the hour.
"But we were lacklustre and Spalding are one of the form teams, their lowly position does not reveal how good they really are.
"I also want to say thank you again to our away fans who have been fantastic. We have not been at our best at home, but this Saturday we hope to turn it on for the benefit of all our supporters."
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