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FC United suffer Tuesday night defeat to Kendal: full report

FC United missed a penalty and conceded a freak long range goal during a 3-1 defeat to Kendal Town at the Lakeland Radio Stadium on Tuesday night.

Matthew Wolfenden pulled the Reds level in the first minute of the second half after they had gone into the break 1-0 down on a wet and windy night in Cumbria.

But Kendal hit back with two quick goals within 15 minutes of the equaliser, including one by goalkeeper Tom Newton from his own area. Steve Torpey then failed to convert a spot kick with 20 minutes to go, sealing the Reds’ fate.

Despite the score-line, FC United didn’t play badly at all and with more luck and better finishing it could have been a very different story. However, Kendal took their chances and all three points.

The Reds started brightly with Richard Battersby playing a great ball through to Carlos Roca who put his shot over thanks to the ball bobbling just as he was about to shoot. A couple of minutes later, Roca turned provider for Michael Norton, who put his header over. Matthew Wolfenden went close on the quarter hour mark after good work from Jake Cottrell and Lee Neville but his flicked shot was straight at the keeper.

It was a decent start to the game by the Reds but they were dealt a sucker punch in the 23rd minute when the ball was played through to Mark Jackson who scored with the home side’s first shot on target.

The away side continued to press, Cottrell smacking the post from 30 yards and a great piece of skill from Roca saw the winger turn and shoot at goal. Newton parried the ball up and then tipped it wide ahead of the onrushing FC forwards. From the resultant corner, Adam Jones headed wide.

Six minutes before the break, a long cross into the box found Michael Carr who controlled the ball and crossed to Wolfenden who hesitated and the ball was blocked. The home side could have doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when Kilford fired a shot in, James Spencer tipping the ball over.

The second half couldn’t have started any better for FC when they equalised straight from the kick off. Carr played in Norton who unselfishly passed to Wolfenden to tap the ball home to make it 1-1.

Six minutes later, Roca fired in a free-kick that was saved by Newton in the home goal. The keeper then punted the ball forward with the strong wind at his back. The wind took the ball towards the FC box where it bounced over Spencer and into the net. It was a soft goal to concede.

Just before the hour-mark, the night got worse for FC United when the midfield failed to close down the opposition. A long shot by Ciaran Donnelly was parried by Spencer but the ball found its way to Alex Taylor to cross for back in for the onrushing Donnelly to side-foot into the net.

FC United heads dropped at little at this point and the home side took control but not for long as the Reds came back into the game. Norton was played in by Kyle Jacobs but Newton did very well to tip the ball round the post.

With a little over 20 minutes to go, the Reds were awarded a penalty thanks to a handball in the area. Torpey stepped up and saw the Kendal keeper pull off a great save, Carr firing the rebound over and into the field behind the ground.

As the game entered its final few minutes, the chances were still coming. Carr saw a shot deflected over, Norton rolled the ball wide when through and also saw a header land on the roof of the net.

It was one of those games that on another night, the result could have been different but individual errors gave away soft goals at crucial times. The attacking play, particularly in the first half, was positive and that is what the players should look to going into the game at Chorley on Saturday.

Website man of the match: Michael Carr.

Report by Steven Wood



First Posted ~ 12:06 Wed 7 Sep 2011
News ID ~ 3750
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021