A NATHAN Cloudsdale strike saw Kendal Town find the net for the first time this term in their third competitive game of the season at City of Liverpool on Tuesday.

But it was not enough to save the Mintcakes from a 4-1 defeat on Merseyside to leave them pointless after two league games following Saturday's narrow opening day 1-0 reverse at home to Prescot Cables.

Town competed well in the game against the newly promoted Merseyside outfit and were just 2-1 down and still in the game in the closing minutes before a late double strike sealed the home side's win.

In truth, the visitors never really recovered from a nightmare start which saw them go two down in the first 10 minutes.

City of Liverpool took the lead with an Anthony Brown header before Tom Peterson doubled the advantage when he fired a left footed effort past Joao Mendez in the Kendal goal.

And the hosts continued to dominate play while Mendez pulled off a spectacular save to claw away deny Danny Dalton's header.

But Town got back into the game against the run of play got back on 31 minutes when Cloudsdale fired home from close range after a corner wasn’t cleared.

Lewis Wainwright came close to a leveller as the visitors continued to battle but Peterson, who minutes earlier has rattled the bar with a rocket shot, sealed the win with two minutes when he slotted into an empty net after rounding Mendez.

And John McGrath's close range finish in injury time completed Kendal’s misery.

It was a frustrating evening for Steve Edmondson's side who on Saturday against Prescot had shown a marked improvement on the previous week's FA Cup horror show against Hemsworth MW.

Kendal went into the game determined to right the wrongs of that game but the team’s lack of creativity proved to be the decisive aspect in a hard fought game watched by a sparse crowd of 107.

Mendez replaced Murray O'Rourke in goal and Tom Heywood and Ryan Moore returned to the ranks, but it was

Prescot, who just missed out on the play-offs at the end of the last season, who made the better start.

Sean Myler chipped the ball over the bar from close range and the home side failed to heed the warning signs, falling behind on 13 minutes when Lloyd Dean capitalised on a defensive mistake before firing into the bottom corner from close range.

Prescot continued to dominate with former Kendal Town player Steven Yawson forcing Mendez into action, and Town's only real opportunity of the first half fell to Nathan Reid whose free kick sailed over the bar.

But Kendal started the second half in determined fashion and Cloudsdale chipped the ball just over from close range.

Reid and Christian Sloan also saw their efforts cleared but Prescot held on without further alarm to consign Town to an opening day defeat.