Report: Clitheroe Vs Kendal Town
A Tale of two halves as Kendal completely dominant first half with Clitheroe taking control of the second..
Saturday 23rd July 2011
Veteran defender Sean Gregan made his Kendal debut at the heart of defence and looked very assured and comfortable in the July sunshine.
[N.B. - Please note due to no teamsheets being provided by Clitheroe FC we are unable to provide details of Clitheroe players. Apologies.]
Veteran defender Sean Gregan made his Kendal debut at the heart of defence and looked very assured and comfortable in the July sunshine.
Kendal started the brighter of the two teams with Mark Peers tricking his way into a dangerous position before pulling the ball back to Mark Jackson; the former Clitheroe man narrowly missing the right post.
At the other end Dootson made a neat parry from a headed attempt on his goal before landing awkwardly on his side. Tom Newton replaced him after 8 minutes.
Kendal continued apace and Ashley Dunn's excellent through ball presented Jackson with another opportunity, this time the Clitheroe goalkeeper saving well with his legs.
Against the run of the play in the 14th minute it was Clitheroe who would take the lead, good wingplay up the left hand side resulted in a throw-in, which was quickly taken and swept into the box early, allowing a simple header to be placed into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal. 1-0 Clitheroe.
Almost immediately after falling behind Alex Taylor had a half-chance to level up, with which he narrowly fired over.
Kendal continued in the dominating fashion that the match had begun in, the vast majority of the play being carried out deep into Clitheroe's half. Blakeman was beginning to spread a few neat passes into dangerous areas.
In the 19th minute the pressure told and the scores were level. Mark Peers using some trickery and skill to get the better of 2 defenders after coming infield from the right. He fired his shot low and hard along the floor, straight into the bottom of the goal.
A minute later the game had turned full circle as scorer Peers put Jackson clean through on the right-hand side with space to run into. He placed a weighted ball into the box which Alex Taylor belted into the side of the goal.
Clitheroe had a great chance from a free kick a few minutes later, when Ashley Dunn was judged to have made a foul. The resulting effort on goal was excellent, but Kendal keeper Tom Newton was equal to it. The young keeper scrambling across his goal to push the ball round his right-hand post for a corner at full stretch.
The Carlisle born stopper was called into action again a minute or so later when a rare through-ball got behind the Kendal defence and Tom made a smart stop at his near-post. That was to be the last Clitheroe effort on goal in the first half in the 29th minute though, such was the dominance of Gregan and Joseph's central defensive pairing.
Kendal turned on the style with Peers and Wisdom's bursts forward proving difficult for the Clitheroe defence to deal with. Ashley Dunn headed a Peers corner straight into the arms of the goalkeeper.
Shortly after, Jackson and Dunn linked well in the final third before forcing a smart-save from the Clitheroe goalkeeper. From the resulting corner, central defender Marc Joseph headed narrowly wide.
Trialist wing-back Moses Barnett (formerly a member of Everton's academy), who had just replaced Ciaran Donnelly, pushed forward well before placing a cross straight into the outstretched arms of the right wing-back. Barnett was incredulous to the referee's decision of no penalty, and perhaps quite right rightfully so.
Another triallist Luke Powell (also formerly on Everton's books) replaced Alex Taylor just before the break just in time for Kendal to make it 3-1. The excellent Mark Peers tricked his way into space on the right-hand side before sweeping in a lofted ball to the unmarked Mark Jackson who headed in.
At half-time John Moss came on for Sean Gregan, with Rory Winters moving into Gregan's centre back position. Tom Kilifin replaced Mark Jackson shortly after the break.
The second-half was very slow to build, the first chance of any note coming in the 54th minute when wing-back Barnett was forced to intercept an attempt at the near-post, preventing a certain goal, with Newton stranded at his far-post. Tim Baines replaced Rory Winters at centre-back shortly after.
Clitheroe got a goal back in the 60th minute, Marc Joseph not quite getting enough on his headed clearance and being caught out of position, the Clitheroe right winger placed a neat ball into the box, the resulting attempt rifled past a helpless Newton.
Things were level only 5 minutes later when a through-ball wasn't dealt with and the striker latched onto the ball with ease smashing his effort into the top-right corner of Newton's goal.
Clitheroe were doing a noticeably better job of working the ball out from the back in the second-half.
Kendal's best effort of the second-half came when trialist Luke Powell headed narrowly over from a Peers cross, the keeper rooted; had it been a matter of inches lower, Kendal may well have retaken the lead.
As it was though, Clitheroe snatched victory in the 88th minute with a deep cross creating havoc in the right-hand side of Kendal's defence, the ball eventually being headed over Newton into the roof of the net for 4-3.
Attendance: 132
Kendal Town Team: 1) Dootson (Newton 8), 2) Winters (Baines 59), 3) Wisdom, 4) Gregan (Moss 45), 5) Joseph, 6) Blakeman, 7) Peers, 8) Jackson (Kilifin 50), 9) Taylor (Powell 44), 10) Dunn, 11) Donnelly (Barnett 19).
