Leadbetter brace sets up Trophy final visit to Reebok Stadium (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Leadbetter brace sets up Trophy final visit to Reebok Stadium

11:13pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Kendal Town news By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

Lancashire FA Trophy, semi-final
Kendal Town 5, Radcliffe Borough 2
KENDAL Town thumped Radcliffe Borough 5-2 to set up a Lancashire FA Trophy Final against Chorley at the Reebok Stadium in March.

The game was deemed passable despite plummeting temperatures but the raucous Town support on the night created an energy which kept the faithful fire burning.

But it wasn't all plain sailing for Town against their lower ranked rivals and an early warning was fired out from striker Ben Warton just five minutes in, when he escaped the offside trap but his effort from the edge of the box went wide of Craig Dootson's post.

An end to end opening 20 minutes also saw Alex Taylor force a corner from keeper Nick Culkin, but it was Borough who took the lead.

With 11 minutes on the clock Matthew Chadwick fired beyond Dootson after a cut back from the near post.

Town didn't have long to wait to get back on level terms and their equaliser came from the pacy Kevin Leadbetter.

Danny Wisdom played the ball to Taylor on the edge of the area and his speculative shot rebounded off the crossbar.

Leadbetter kept his eye on the ball and reacted quickest to slot past Culkin.

Town took control as Taylor and McEvatt made a nuisance of themselves, while Ciaran Donnelly played a blinder in the middle of the field to feed the front two.

Just after the half hour mark Wisdom had two chances in a minute to put Town in front but after taking an extra touch and blazing wide with his first chance, the second was easily collected by Culkin.

Culkin also snatched a Donnelly free kick out of the air as it sailed towards the top corner and the sides were level at the break when McEvatt drilled a shot wide of the target.

Town have certainly been up for the cup though this season and Lee Ashcroft's half-time team talk was just the tonic for a gripping second half.

An entertaining cup tie was turned on its head when Taylor headed home a deflected corner from Wisdom in the 54th minute.

But Borough only had to wait 35 seconds before squaring the match, with Warton making amends for an earlier miss by slotting under Dootson after being played through.

Ashley Dunn was taken down in the box just 60 seconds later and Leadbetter struck to restore the Town lead and calm the nerves of the travelling fans, with almost 200 of the Mintcake army filling the stands in Leyland.

3-2 became 4-2 on 65 minutes when McEvatt and Taylor played a neat one-two for the former to net beyond Culkin.

Borough were resilient though and won a penalty with 74 minutes on the clock when Dootson hacked down Declan Fletcher in a race to the ball.

Warton steppd up to get Borough back in the match but Dootson guessed correctly, stopped his effort and made a reflex save to keep out the rebound.

Any element of doubt that Town would travel to the Reebok on Monday, March 12, to face Chorley was quashed in the 87th minute when Adam Farrell latched on to a poor backpass and shot past Culkin.

Farrell's effort struck the left hand post before taking an eternity to cross the goal line and nestle in the net via the woodwork on Culkin's right to secure a 5-2 win.

HOW THEY RATED: C Dootson 8, R Winters 8, D Williams 8, S Gray 8, M Joseph 8, D Wisdom 8 (rep C Osman 79mins), C Donnelly 8, G McEvatt 8 (rep M Jackson 72mins), A Taylor 8 (rep A Farrell 82mins), A Dunn, K Leadbetter.

Subs: T Kilifin, J Tucker.

STAR MAN - Ciaran Donnelly - tracked play well through the night and provided some good balls to the forwards ATT: 290