Lacklustre Kendal Town lose crucial six-pointer as Frickley Athletic relegation fears ease (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Lacklustre Kendal Town lose crucial six-pointer as Frickley Athletic relegation fears ease

7:01pm Saturday 9th March 2013 in Football By Scott Kirk, Reporter

Kendal Town 0

Frickley Athletic 2

Evo-Stik Premier League

KENDAL Town produced a deperately flat performance as they gifted fellow strugglers Frickley Athletic their first away win of the season to leave the Black and Whites staring relegation in the face.

It was a match of very few chances on a muddy and slippy Parkside Road pitch, and both sides registered minimal efforts on goal in a turgid affair.

Maison McGeechan shot wide after a Rob Wilson header in the fourth minute in a game with conditions hardly conducive to attractive, flowing football as both sides looked short on ideas on how to fashion opportunities.

McGeechan was sandwiched between Joe Wilcox and Gareth Clayton as he ran onto Martin Grundy’s ball in the 18th minute, allowing Frickley shot-stopper Jamie Green to easily collect the ball when the Kendal striker would have been one-on-one with the keeper.

Frickley’s first opportunity only came when Grundy’s first touch went loose in the box following a cross, and when visiting skipper Jake Picton seized on the mistake, Grundy went in late on the Frickley midfielder to concede the penalty. Up stepped Chris Wood, who sent Kendal keeper Craig Dootson the wrong way to give Frickley the lead in the 21st minute.

The Black and Whites had the majority of possession but they couldn’t provide themselves with any clear-cut chances, with McGeechan’s shot on the edge of the box comfortably blocked on the half-hour mark one example of how Kendal struggled.

Callum Howe made a great sliding clearance in his own six-yard box to clear a McGeechan ball in, while Adam Freeland was beaten to the ball by Green from the resulting corner after captain Kevin Brown flicked on at the near post for the home team.

Frickley were offering nothing going forward but they were presented with another penalty in the 41st minute when Simon Rawnsley clumsily tripped Jimmy Ghaichem in the box when the left winger got the better of the Kendal man. This time Dootson saved Wood’s penalty, but with no Kendal players reacting to the save, Wood was left with the easiest of tap-ins from the rebound to double his side’s advantage.

The second half of the game was every bit as dull as both sides continued to struggle with the worsening conditions.

McGeechan was the only man who was providing any kind of attacking threat for the Black and Whites and he had a great chance seven minutes into the second period but he took a touch too many when he was put through into the box, and Green closed him down to thwart the opportunity.

As poor as Kendal were, Frickley offered absolutely nothing going forward, which meant that the home side continued to enjoy the majority of the play.

Wilson shot wide in the 58th minute but with shots, crosses and passes consistently failing to beat the first man, Kendal were always ill at ease in the game.

In the 66th minute Green failed to deal with a Dan Ferguson cross after Grundy went up for the header, and with the ball loose Frickley just about managed to squirm the ball away in the six-yard box before McGeechan could get there.

Wilson struck a free kick over the bar in the 73rd minute as the Black and Whites tried to pull one back but Wood could have got his hat-trick for the away side when he met a Chris Howarth cross after the substitute got the wrong side of Brown, but the striker got his effort all wrong and should have done a lot better when he was unmarked in the box.

McGeechan forced Green into a decent save when he shot low towards the keeper’s near post from the left with nine minutes left, while Howe cleared off the line for Frickley from a Mike Barron shot deep into injury time.

But Kendal were just not good enough on the day, and a vast improvement is required if they wish to stay in the Evo-Stik Premier League next season.

Kendal Town

Craig Dootson, Dan Ferguson, Danny McGahon, Rob Wilson, Kevin Brown (c), Adam Freeland, Martin Grundy, Zach Clark, Mike Rushton, Maison McGeechan, Simon Rawnsley.

Subs: Aaron Taylor for Rawnsley (55), Mike Barron for Clark (71), Aaron Helliwell for McGahon (83)

Subs not used: Jack Cook, Jamie Hastings

Yellow cards: None

Frickley Athletic

Jamie Green, Joe Wilcox, Chris Fisher, Jake Picton (c), Gareth Clayton, Callum Howe, Jason Yates (Lee Stratford 91), Danny Walsh, Luke Hinsley (Chris Howarth 76), Chris Wood, Jimmy Ghaichem (Luke Jeffs 86).

Subs not used: Joe Davis, Tom Woodhead

Yellow cards: Jason Yates, Joe Wilcox

Key man: Rob Wilson - The best of a bad bunch, Wilson was the only one who could say he had a decent performance as he tried to get Kendal moving with his passing.

Attendance: 120