Report: FC Utd Vs Kendal Town
Early Norton header hands ten-man FC victory to end Town's 100% league record at Gigg Lane..
Wednesday 23rd November 2011
Early Norton header hands ten-man FC victory to end Town's 100% league record at Gigg Lane..
[Match Report provided with assistance from Steven Wood]
Norton pounced inside the first seven minutes to give the Reds their fourth straight win but they had to dig in deep against Kendal Town, especially when the home side were reduced to ten men in the second half.
The game began in cagey fashion with neither side gaining control but it was the Reds who took the lead when a flowing move found Carlos Roca on the left whose sublime cross was met by the head of Norton who directed the ball emphatically past visiting goalkeeper Craig Dootson via the underside of the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Kendal had a good chance but Jordon Connerton shot straight at United custodian James Spencer. The ever dangerous Astley Mulholland was next to come close for FC Utd, playing himself in behind the defence before forcing Town stopper Dootson to pull off a great one-on-one save.
Spencer was in action again on the half hour as Ciaran Donnelly was played in but the FC United shot-stopper blocked well. A minute later, the Reds should have doubled their lead when a crisp passing move saw Norton cross in for Mullholland who fired over when well placed.
Five minutes before the break, United had a loud handball appeal turned down, the officials deeming the contact from Kendal Captain Marc Joseph to be accidental meaning, that the Reds took the narrowest of leads into the interval.
Five minutes after the restart, Mullholland had yet another chance. Dangerous FC frontman Mike Norton worked himself into the box and saw his shot tipped up by Dootson and Mullholland headed the rebound against the woodwork.
The game exploded four minutes later when Jimmy Holden was clearly frustrated by a scuffle in the midfield and launched himself into a tackle on former FC United winger Danny Williams, which prompted a melée from both sides, during which Holden was alleged to have head-butted an opponent. Once calm had been restored, Mr Southwood produced a red card in Holden’s direction.
Being down to 10 men showed a different side to FC United in that were had to soak up much pressure, though chances for the away team were kept to a minimum, Ashley Dunn seeing a shot from the edge of the box saved brilliantly by the FC Utd goalkeeper Spencer. Moments later Ciaran Donnelly had another chance from the edge of the 18-yard box, but could only fire wide of Spencer's goal.
In fact, if anything the Reds were still coming closest to scoring as Kendal maintained with an ultimately unsuccessful long-ball game; substitute Ben Deegan was played through for FC, but he ran out of steam before he could get a shot in and Danny Grimshaw heading at Dootson from a Carlos Roca cross, after also coming off the bench.
In the end, one goal proved to be enough for FC United to finally beat their Kendal hoodoo. This was the first time that the Reds had gained anything against Kendal at Gigg Lane.
Attendance: 1517
Kendal Town Team: 1) C Dootson, 2) J Tucker, 3) D Wisdom, 4) S Gray, 5) M Joseph (C), 6) C Donnelly, 7) K Walmsley, 8) J Connerton, 9) M Jackson, 10) A Dunn, 11) D Williams.
