Chasetown 5

Kendal Town 0

THE gap between Kendal Town and bottom placed Skelmersdale United has shrunk to just six points after a Saturday to forget for the Mintcakes.

A Town side who were without a raft of players through injury and illness were only able to field 11 men for the game at Chasetown and they crashed to a 5-0 defeat.

But with just one team now to be relegated, they are still favourites to escape the drop as despite Skelmersdale closing the gap marginally after drawing 1-1 with Market Drayton, the Merseysiders have just four games left to make up the deficit and would need a major form upturn to catch Kendal.

However, Town’s form is equally dismal, with a seventh successive defeat virtually sealed after just 34 minutes when Chasetown had raced into a 4-0 lead.

Kendal made the worst possible start and were 2-0 down after just 7 minutes when Jack Langston converted a penalty kick following a foul by Cory Vickers before a mistake from Mendez saw Tom Hill lob the ball over the Kendal keeper.

Chasetown should have gone 3-0 up soon after when Callum Lovatt’s powerful effort on goal crashed off the bar.

But it was a temporary reprieve for the Mintcakes as George Cater made it three on 23 minutes, crashing the ball into the roof of the net after getting onto the end of a fine lobbed pass by Lovatt.

And as Kendal continued to be dominated, Hill added a fourth with half time still 11 minutes away

To their credit, Town battled well in the second half and showed a little more resilience, but Liam Kirton sealed the win on 75 minutes, taking the ball round Mendez before calmly finishing into an empty net.

And as a miserable afternoon drew to a close, Chasetown almost made it six only to be denied by Mendez who made a fingertip save from James Hilton.

Kendal have the weekend off before they travel to Newcastle Town on Easter Saturday, April 20.

That fixture is quickly followed by the final home game of the season on Easter Monday, April 22 when Droylsden are the visitors.

The Mintcakes then round off their campaign the following Saturday with a trip to Widnes.