Report: Squires Gate Vs Kendal Town
A Clinical Kendal Town earn their second victory against a Blackpool based outfit so far this Pre-Season..
Tuesday 26th July 2011
Kendal Town earned their second victory of a hectic Pre-Season against a Blackpool based side as Squires Gate were hit for six.
There were many positives for Kendal Town Manager Lee Ashcroft to reflect on after his side hit the back of the net six times away at North West Counties Premier outfit Squires Gate. With Sean Gregan featuring for an hour, promising performances from some of the newer players and a number of his intended first team regulars beginning to hit top form, the signs are looking extremely promising.
It was to be a fast start for Kendal, as it took only 6 minutes for the visitors to take the lead. After Andy Bell had unsettled the home goalkeeper, he made a catastrophic misjudgment; allowing Andy Bell to sweep the ball home into an unguarded goal.
Squires Gate had an unbelievable chance to level the scores almost immediately after an untimely slip in the Kendal defence, the home side number 9 had a one-on-one chance against Kendal goalkeeper Tom Newton, only for the chance to be spurned in disappointing fashion; the striker's effort drifting wide of the left post with the goal gaping.
Kendal were doing an excellent job of working the ball down the wings, with Peers on the right and Wisdom on the left excelling up the field as often as the play would allow. This created a great chance in the 12th minute when Danny Wisdom whipped in a cross that narrowly eluded the onrushing Andy Bell. An almost identical situation occurred shortly after on the other flank soon after, this time with Jackson's cross narrowly missing winger Danny Wisdom.
On 23 minutes Andy Bell was sent tumbling to the ground after a hefty tackle from a Squires' defender. Unable to continue, on came Tom Kilifin. [The initial news after the game would suggest it was a knee complaint. Whilst Belly seemed in a bit of discomfort, he was walking unaided.]
The most inadvertent chance of the night occurred when the Squires Gate right winger launched a cross/shot right under Tom Newton's crossbar, the young stopper leapt acrobatically to push the ball over his crossbar for a corner kick.
It was to prove an important save as soon after Kendal doubled the lead they had established early on. A neat turn from central midfielder Liam Blakeman opened up some space for a pass through to Mark Peers, who was able to race away down the right wing and place a sublime cross for Danny Wisdom to sidefoot home from close range. A wonderful team goal. 2-0 to Kendal was to be the score at the half time interval..
..And it was to be 3-0 almost immediately after the restart. Excellent work from substitute Tom Kilifin lead to the pacey forward keeping the ball in play when the Squires Gate defenders had given up the chase. Kilifin played a simple ball across the box for Danny Wisdom to tap in from a couple of yards out for his second goal of the evening.
It almost got better immediately as some nice exchanges between ex-Workington right-back and trialist Andy Langford and Mark Peers lead to the ball falling at Ian Kilford's feet. The resulting effort was hammered into a crowded box; eventually rebounding out for a corner.
Kendal dominated the following stretch of play, with efforts from Kilifin, Peers and Wisdom all testing the home goalkeeper.
The home keeper was eventually beaten for a fourth time when Tom Kilifin etched his name of the scoresheet. Substitute John Moss who had just come on for winger Mark Peers whipped his corner along the floor to the near post where Tom Kilifin rifled his effort into the goal off the underside of the bar.
A lapse in concentration from the restart lead to Squires claiming a goal back when the ball was moved down the right wing and swept into the box for a simple tap-in.
Undeterred, Kendal continued to move the ball confidently around the midfield, the ball dropping for veteran midfielder Chris Ward; who had a speculative effort punched over for a corner by the home keeper.
The pressure was telling and Kendal claimed a fifth goal when Tom Kilifin was ajudged to have been fouled unfairly when carrying the ball into the Squires box. Mark Jackson stepped up and confidently put away his effort, sending the keeper the wrong way; his shot nestling in the bottom left hand corner.
The excellent Tom Kilifin and John Moss were linking extremely well and the fresh legs were telling, the latter placing another fine ball across the edge of the 18-yard box only for noone to have the energy to quite capitalise upon the opportunity.
Soon after though Kendal added a sixth for the evening, as Chris Ward placed a fine ball between the right centre back and the right back for Tom Kilifin to race clear and chip a lovely effort over the outrushing keeper.
Squires were to claim a second goal after a neat strike into the bottom left corner of the net left Kendal custodian Tom Newton with little chance of preventing a goal.
In the 87th minute Mark Jackson had Kendal's last chance of the game as he rattled the crossbar with a looping effort after John Moss had placed another raking pass into his feet.
Kendal Town Team: 1) Newton, 2) Langford, 3) Fitzgerald (Baines 64), 4) Gregan (Winters 61), 5) Joseph, 6) Blakeman, 7) Peers (Moss 53) , 8) Bell (Kilifin 23), 9) Jackson, 10) Kilford (Ward 53), 11) Wisdom.
