Kendal Town drew 1-1 with league leaders South Shields in the Boxing Day game at The St&B Accountants Stadium.

Anthony Lynch opened the scoring for the Mintcakes after 15 minutes with a well taken goal before South Shields equalised on the stroke of half time, through a deflected Michael Richardson free kick.

Both sides battled it out in the second half and while the visitors had most of the possession, Kendal created the better opportunities before the points were ultimately shared.

Kendal made one change to the starting line up with the inclusion on-loan goalkeeper Sam Ashton, with the Chorley shot stopper deputising for Will Kitchen.

The hosts made a positive start and created the first opportunity when Rick Seear blazed the ball over from 20 yards.

Kendal opened the scoring after 15 minutes when Lynch placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Lynch swept the ball home from close range after capitalising on a dangerous attacking move by Connor Gaul and Seear.

South Shields almost equalised five minutes later when a quick counter attack caught Kendal off guard before Carl Finnigan drilled the ball wide of the post after getting onto the end of a clinical pass by Gavin Cogden.

The visitors continued to apply the pressure while Kendal were penned back, before Cogden's powerful attempt on goal was comfortably saved by Ashton.

However, South Shields equalised on the stroke of half time when Richardson’s deflected free kick from the left hand side went into the net.

Kendal created the first opportunity of the second half when Gaul’s close range effort was forced away for a corner by Liam Connell, but South Shields continued to dominate as Stuart Mc Donald put in a last ditch challenge to deny former Premier League player Julio Arca.

The visitors created further opportunities through Cogden,whose effort scraped the cross bar, before Jon Shaw headed the ball over from close range after capitalising on a good cross by Matthew Pattison.

Kendal themselves created two glorious opportunities late into the second half when Matthew Clarke's shot from distance went over the bar before Charlie Bowman nearly won the game deep into stoppage time after the talisman saw his close range effort go wide of the post.

Kendal’s next League game is away to Clitheroe on New Year’s Day.

Kendal Town line up: 1, Ashton, 2, McGahon, 3, Thomas, 4, Grundy, 5, Davies, 6, Alexander, 7, Lynch, 8, McDonald (C), 9, Seear, 10, Bowman, 11, Gaul.

Substitutes: 12, Clarke, 14, Penswick, 15, Rothwell, 17, Kitchen (GK)