Kendal Town 4 - Kidsgrove Atheltic 1...

HOME supporters were treated to Kendal Town at their best as they tore Kidsgrove Athletic apart on Tuesday evening, writes Dennis Aris.

For 45 minutes Town regained their pre-Christmas promotion-chasing form and, although their control slipped in the second half, the final score of 4-1 was ample revenge for defeat by the Staffordshire side back in October.

In an immaculate spell of flowing football Town gave Kidsgrove three of the best before the match was half-an-hour old, Peter Smith, Ricky Mercer and David Foster applying high-quality finishing touches.

On 15 minutes Smith, who from the outset had given the defence a torrid time on the right flank, was brought down just outside the area and close to the bye-line.

Lee Ashcroft hammered a head high free-kick into the heart of the box where Smith met it with a firm header into the right hand side of the net.

Four minutes later, Foster opened a flowing passing move from the left, finding Ashcroft who fed Kenny Mayers and he neatly laid the ball off for Mercer to drive it hard inside the left upright.

On 22 minutes it became 3-0 as Foster neatly controlled a looping cross from Ashcroft. He beat one defender, shimmied left and right then placed the ball past helpless Kidsgrove keeper Stuart Heaps.

There could have been more goals within minutes, Foster seeing a shot cleared off the line, Nigel Taylor putting a blistering free-kick just too close to Heaps and Ashcroft hooking a shot just wide.

In fact it was only just before the interval that Kidsgrove made any serious inroads into the Kendal area with Paul Buckley shooting wide, then curling a free-kick on to the top of the net.

Almost inevitably Town could not maintain their absolute dominance in the second half, but the defence had a chance to demonstrate their worth.

Kidsgrove switched to a longer, wider game as they attempted to by-pass the midfield but their breaks floundered on strong tackles and clearance work from Russ McKenna, Nigel Taylor and, in particular, Dave Woodruffe who had his best home performance to date.

On 68 minutes a rare lapse allowed Anthony Buckle to receive a cross in space to blast the ball past stand-in keeper Ryan Robinson, who had deputised well for the injured Mark Thornley.

If they had scored a second goal, Kidsgrove might have clawed their way back into the match, but with time running out Kendal substitute Chris Bennett cut into the visitors penalty area and went down under a strong challenge.

Town were awarded a penalty, which Ashcroft smashed into the right-hand corner of the goal to seal the points.

How they rated: Robinson 8, Rigby 7, McKenna 8, Woodruffe 8, Taylor 8, Mercer 7, Smith 8, Kilford 7, Foster 8 (Jack 7 from 81 minutes), Mayers 7 (Bennett 7 from 70 minutes), Ashcroft 8.