Kendal Town 0

Colne 1

AS has so often been the case recently, frustration was once again the order of the day for Kendal Town as Boxing Day visitors Colne left the ST&B Accountants Stadium with three points.

Town equalled their hosts for long periods in a hard fought game and had their fair share of chances, but Connor Hughes's goal after 20 minutes proved to be the difference.

Buoyed by their creditable pre-Christmas 1-1 draw at Prescot Cables, the Mintcakes were confident going into the encounter but made a slow start to the game as Colne dominated the opening exchanges.

And the visitors should have been 1-0 up after just four minutes when Hughes's well struck shot was saved at the near post by home keeper Morgan Bacon.

Kendal continuously gave the ball away and struggled to impose themselves on the game, while the visitors offered more of a threat in front of goal.

Aiden Chippendale was a particular thorn in Kendal's side, supplying a number of dangerous deliveries into the area which were cleared by the home defence.

However, they could do nothing to stop Colne opening the scoring after 20 minutes.

A neat exchange of passes from midfield saw Bradley Knox release a pass to Hughes who made a jinking run into the penalty area before placing a shot into the bottom corner of the net.

And 12 minutes later Colne almost doubled their lead when Knox saw his effort on goal come back off the post.

And as the East Lancashire side continued to press, Hughes tried his luck from 30 yards only to see his shot go inches over the bar.

Kendal began to get some passes together in the latter stages of the first half and Sean Paterson fired wide after getting onto the end of a clinical pass by Patrick Allington.

However, the sides went in at half time with Colne still holding that narrow advantage.

And the visitors created the first opportunity of the second half when Matthew Makinson's shot on the turn was saved by the feet of Bacon before William Harris fired his shot over the far post.

But Kendal came more into the game and began to take over the midfield, prompting a series of attacks with Aaron Fleming and Joseph Dickson both getting into the area only to be denied by some solid defending from Marcus Poscha.

The Mintcakes then created their best opportunity when Kieran Maguire’s volley from close range was blocked by a Colne defender.

Town continued to push Colne back and the visitors began to sit back and defend deep as they battled to maintain their advantage.

However, for all their ascendancy, Kendal still struggled to create any really clear cut chance on the visitors goal.

Colne weathered the storm and began to push for the second goal in the later stages, with Aiden Chippendale's dipping lob from distance being pushed over by Bacon while Hughes' diagonal shot went across the face of the goal.

But Kendal did not give up and deep into stoppage time, they almost equalised only for Emil Jaaskelainen to narrowly fail to glance his header into the net after a clinical delivery into the penalty area.

You sensed that was the final chance and so it proved as seconds later, the final whistle sounded and Colne had held out for the win.