Skem run out of gas as Kendal eat cake

WHEN you are facing a determined inform team from the division below and you have a host of absentees, the last thing you want is your strength to let you down.

But that is precisely what happened to Skelmersdale United on Saturday in this FA Trophy qualifier.

Having dominated the early exchanges and gone into a thoroughly deserved lead, Skem, who always looked frail at the back, made two mistakes too many and found themselves 2-1 down and chasing the game before conceding in the very late stages when most of the team were on the attack.

Skelmersdale has opened playing some excellent football and soon had Kendal on the defensive.

When Luke Wall took the ball on the left and sent it low into the away penalty area after eight minutes, from where marksman Max Hazeldine flicked it into the Kendal net to make it 1-0, everything looked rosy for Skelmersdale.

Wall almost made it two after ten minutes, his powerful volley from a Valtar Fernandes cross only being kept out by a brave block from a Kendal defender.

It was a shock and against the general run of play when Kendal levelled on 17 minutes.

Sam Bailey galloped down the rightwing and found Oliver Wood on the edge of the penalty area, there was no worry though as the centre-forward still had plenty to do.

However, he was not closed down quickly enough, was allowed to turn and saw his shot go through a forest legs into the corner of the goal.

The goal didn’t immediately halt the Skelmersdale momentum.

Kendal left-back Paul Dugdale rescued his side when Hazeldine looked set to strike from a Tom Ince cross, then Callum Mahoney put in a vicious cross-shot that was only deflected away by Josh Wardle’s back, then on the half-hour Ince rippled the top of the net with a dipper of a shot.

Confidence is undoubtedly low at Skem and in the last ten minutes before the break Kendal started to make some progress.

Fernandes did well to clear under pressure from Matt Dudley, then Thomas Kilifin put a shot wide after working the channel well, before Stuart McDonald headed wide from an excellent Dugdale cross. The warning signs were there for Skem.

The interval initially seemed to have refreshed Skelmersdale, soon Ince was dragged back and his free-kick hit the upright, though down the other end Martin Grundy should have done better than head wide from Dugdale’s cross.

On 54 minutes Wall put one wide off Phil Mooney’s cross, then Kenny Strickland’s free-kick was half cleared and Wall saw a shot saved by Kendal’s Will Kitchen.

The big turnaround came on 64 minutes. A Skelmersdale attack was quickly switched back on them by a punted clearance, Wood latched onto it and ran at an isolated Tony Rendell.

He beat him, Fernandes appeared on the scene too late to help and the number nine was able to curl the ball into the Skelmersdale net from 20 yards. It was far from textbook defending. Tommy Lawson brought on Chris Almond who was not 100% fit, but he made a difference with his ability to run at the Kendal defence, after a good exchange of passes with Hazeldine he put a shot just wide of the post and later set up Strickland but he couldn’t celebrate his 300th appearance with and equaliser.

All the time Kendal were able to fall back in numbers and counterattack against a now undermanned Skelmersdale defence and Bailey hit the post with a chip from 35 yards.

Added time was announced and Skelmersdale had almost all eleven committed into attack when the ball went into the area some 35 yards from the Skelmersdale goal and goalkeeper Martin Fearon was the only man left to clear it, unfortunately he got it wrong, the ball went to Dugdale just inside the Kendal half and he was able to put into the empty net from at least fifty yards.

There was still about a minute of added time to play, but really the goal only confirmed what for ten minutes had sadly begun to look inevitable.

The mistakes were expensive, they gave Kendal confidence and sapped Skelmersdale’s, without them it is fair to say that Skelmersdale would probably at least have had a replay, which is a pity because a good FA Trophy result would have helped their league campaign.