10:52am Monday 16th October 2006
By Dennis Aris
BEHIND the scenes activity made the news this week as a star name quit Kendal Town and manager Tony Heseketh launched a raid on crisis hit Lancaster City to boost his options, writes Dennis Aris.
Hard on the heels of the exit of last year's star winger Ged Smith and summer signing Mike Kewley Hesketh served seven day notices on Lancaster which will allow him to offer terms to midfielder Ryan Elderton right back Neil Uberschar.
Hesketh said: "They are both good players and would offer something to my side. We will talk to them after the weekend and see what develops"
He has seized his opportunity following a mass defection of players from the Conference North side amid rumours of major financial problems at the city club. Lancaster Assistant boss Mickey Mellon and five players quit the club last week and Lancaster had to field three-quarters of their reserve side against Workington at the weekend.
Hesketh also needs new blood at Kendal to revitalise a side which has slumped form the top of the league to 12th after failing record a win in their last seven matches. He said Elderton and Uberschar were local boys from the Lancaster-Morecambe area who would be good additions to the Kendal squad. He said he was also interested in one or two other players from stricken City, but did not want to name them yet as: "as things have not quite come to a head.
Tomorrow's match at North Ferriby will also see Town field a new goalkeeper Neil Thompson, from Workington, who has currently been playing down at Barnet has been signed as cover for suspended Ross Baxter.
"Thompson is a former Carlisle United player although I don't think he made first team football there and although he is currently signed with Leek he is not playing for them," said Hesketh.
Tuesday night's fixture at Fleetwood Town could throw up an interesting confrontation as disenchanted Ged Smith has signed for Kendal's arch rivals.
We could be up against him if the release papers have gone through by then," said Hesketh. "I have wished him all the best and there is no animosity between us it was purely a footballing decision," added the Kendal boss.
"Ged is a class player who has made a massive contribution in Kendal Town's recent success, but there comes a point where players can do no more for you and you have to make some tough decisions,"
said Hesketh "It was with a tinge of sadness that he has moved on, but it following four or five very indifferent performances. He looked miserable on the pitch and his body language suggested he was not happy. I had a chat with him and told him it was in the interest of both parties that he moved on. It was a very tough decision.
To some extent Hesketh's squad changes are being motiviated by Town's early exit from the lucrative FA Cup trail.
"The cup is a turning point in any season in terms of the cash which can be gained from long-term involvement," he said. "Having been knocked out last week it was fairly obvious that there would be one or two casualties in the squad.
"Now there is no pot of gold for us, only bread-and-butter stuff, I don't need to carry such a large squad."
Looking back at Kendal's last two outings Hesketh said Saturday's game at Hednesford hinged on three refereeing decisions.
"Referees can't get it right all the time but over the game you hope it will even out, but on Saturday it cost us a result," he said.
"One bad decision was allowing a goal when keeper Ross Baxter was clearly impeded another was sending off centre-back Nigel Taylor for two innocuous challenges and the third was the refusal to give us a penalty deep in the second half when a blatant handball denied John Osbourne a scoring chance.
"On the positive side there was more team spirit than after the FA Cup defeat the previous Wednesday and I thought we responded well with a spirited performance.
"Then on Tuesday night I thought we really got into our stride against Prescot Cables and were back to our passing best.
"It was a very open game with both sides trying to win which made it an excellent spectacle.
"I felt our dominance in the first 15 minutes would have warranted a two or three goal lead, but it didn't and we contrived to conceded three goals when we were not under pressure.
"We gifted our opponents their goals whereas we had to work hard to score our three, but the performance was much improved and it was no small coincidence that Ian Kilford was back in the side after injury."
Lady luck is not quite smiling on us, but the injuries are clearing up and it was a welcome point as we have been on a bit of a slide in the league.
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