Kendal Town 5 -Rossendale United 2.

CAPTAIN Kenny Mayers weighed in with a hat-trick as Kendal outclassed Rossendale in the first round of the UniBond League Cup.

Yet Tuesday evening's overall performance just fell short of the authority Town showed in league action against Telford on Saturday.

Mayers and fellow striker David Foster are currently riding high in the UniBond list of top scorers and it was Foster who struck first, a peach of a goal with only eight minutes on the clock.

Picking up a pass 12 yards out he flicked it up to the left with his right foot, took a couple of steps and lashed a left- foot volley just inside the right hand post.

Two-minutes later it was 2-0. A corner led to a loose ball in the box and Mayers slid in to stab the ball home.

That should have been a springboard from which Town could go on, but in the 13th minute a series of ludicrously over-confident passes across goal as the back four attempted to play out of defence allowed Mark Redshaw to intercept and drive the ball through keeper Mark Thornley's legs for 2-1.

The shock led to a nervous first half with no more goals scored, but three minutes after the interval Town's Nigel Taylor launched a huge crossfield pass from the right wing.

Lee Ashcroft, way out on the left of the Rossendale area, controlled it brilliantly and curled a shot round the visitor's player-manager keeper Mark Molyneaux into the right side of the net.

With a two-goal lead restored Kendal began to play with the assured passing authority they have displayed of late and in the 56th minute Michael Jack forced a brilliant one-handed stop by Molyneux.

The reprieve was short-lived, however, as Ashcroft played the resulting corner short to Foster who lifted it at shoulder height across the area for Mayers to head in his second.

Three minutes later full-back Paul Rigby, raiding down the right, crossed deep into the box for Mayers to hit home his hat-trick.

There was no way back for Rossendale although Alan Stockton gave the scoreline slightly more respectability when he struck out of the blue from 25 yards in the 65th minute.

How they rated: Thornley 8; Rigby 8, Whittal-Willians 7 (Burrow 7 from 70 minutes), Taylor 8, McMenemy 8; Jack 7, Mercer 8 (Bennett 6 from 80 minutes), Woodruffe 7 (McKenna 8 from 60 minutes), Ashcroft 8; Foster 8, Mayers 9.