Excellent point for Town at Nantwich (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Excellent point for Town at Nantwich

9:06am Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in Football By Scott Kirk, Reporter

Nantwich Town 1, Kendal Town 1

Evo-Stik Premier Division

KENDAL Town earned their second point of the season with a deserved draw at Nantwich Town.

The Dabbers had won their opening tie on Saturday 5-0 at Matlock Town, so Kendal travelled to the Weaver Stadium with a game plan that came off to perfection.

They hassled and harried Nantwich’s defence into making mistakes in the first half, consistently catching them in possession at the back.

And they could have had the lead just two minutes into the match when Kevin Leadbetter drafted a free kick forward. Jack Duggan flicked the ball on and Rory Winters powered a header into the corner which Nantwich keeper Jon Brain got down well to save.

The home side had an early chance when Kyle Wilson volleyed against the post in the fourth minute, but apart from that Nantwich struggled to make any impact against an organised Kendal Town team.

It took several last ditch challenges from Nantwich’s defenders to keep Kendal at bay, Danny Williams tackled in the box and Duggan flashing a header across the face of goal from the resulting corner in the 17th minute.

Mat Bailey defended well against Josh Kenworthy to thwart an effort six minutes later, while Kendal skipper Marc Joseph headed over the bar from a corner in the 24th minute.

With nine minutes left Alex Taylor played a cross into the box which Williams couldn’t get on the end of, while Kenworthy had a point-blank effort saved by Brain as Kendal dominated.

Nantwich woke up in the second half and they took the lead on 56 minutes when a lovely through-ball was played for Lewis Short while Craig Dootson was closing the ball down on the edge of his box.

Short battled with Winters but the Nantwich man won out and the ball trickled into the net to give the Dabbers the lead.

Kenworthy was caught offside several times as he tried to get his side an equaliser but he succeeded with four minutes left.

Taylor’s shot had been saved by Brain but Nantwich failed to clear the ball and Leadbetter had a shot on the edge of the box. It was deflected straight into the path of Kenworthy, who tucked the ball past the keeper to give Kendal Town a deserved equaliser and take a point back to Cumbria.

Line-ups Nantwich Town: Brain, Lowe, Flynn (c), Hughes, Bailey, McDonald, Cooke, McLachlan (Smith 76), Beesley (Jones 83), Wilson, Short.

Subs not used: Maguire, Lane, Campbell

Kendal Town: Dootson, Winters, Wisdom, Duggan, Joseph (c), Wynn, Randell, Taylor, Kenworthy, Williams, Leadbetter..

Subs not used: Alexander, Fishwick, El-Harrati, Tucker, Welsby

Key man: Alex Randell - Never stopped running in the centre of midfield and constantly harried Nantwich’s players into making mistakes