YET again fans were left with the impression that it was two points lost rather than one gained as Kendal came from behind twice to force a draw against less than impressive Bishop Auckland, writes Dennis Aris.

Town were all over the visitors from the start and when Kenny Mayers tucked away a rebound chance from his thwarted initial shot in the 20th minute, the stage seemed set for a dominant home performance.

Instead spectators were treated to a fair degree of farce and suspense before Ricky Mercer headed on to the post in the 81st minute and David Foster netted the rebound to seal the point.

After Mayers' opener, Stuart Cliff and Lee Ashcroft both missed scoring chances by straying marginally offside with only the keeper to beat, then Bishops, who had hardly ventured into the Kendal half, stunned the home side as they conjured a goal out of nothing.

Paul Campbell, fully 30 yards out from goal, looped a shot over the back four and beyond keeper James Salisbury and it sailed into the top right-hand corner.

It looked like a temporary set- back, but then came a comedy of errors as Mayers under-hit a back pass in the 33rd minute.

Mayers' pass may have been abysmal, but Salisbury's attempted clearance kick under pressure was even worse, the ball skewing sideways all of two yards for the grateful Campbell to slot it in the empty net.

Although Kendal were still enjoying the lion's share of possession, Salisbury redeemed himself somewhat in the 44th minute as he got down sharply at the foot of the post to save from Campbell.

Then the drama shifted to the other end where Lee Ashcroft lobbed Bishop's keeper Darren Horrigan. Left back Chris Leadbitter appeared to hack it to safety, but the linesman and referee both agreed that it had crossed the goalline, a decision Bishops were still disputing when the half-time whistle sounded.

In view of the doubt it was perhaps poetic justice when five minutes into the second period Peter Smith whipped a low cross into the Bishops box and a handball was seen by the majority of the crowd, but not the officials.

Yet with Town again in charge it seemed surely only a matter of time before the breakthrough arrived. No - the goal came at the other end when a goalmouth scramble saw the ball come back off the right hand post for Michael Oliver to lash in Bishop's third.

On 70 minutes regular striker David Foster replaced Chris Ward, who had shown some nice touches, but failed to convince close to goal.

It was, however, manager Tony Hesketh's decision to send on defender Dene Whittal-Williams and move the ever-eager Mercer to midfield in place of the tiring Mayers for the final 15 minutes that finally gave Town the necessary urgency.

After six minutes in his new role Mercer's persistence forced the equaliser for Foster and in the closing stages Town could and should have snatched the win on several occasions.

A point was better than nothing and saved at least a lifelong supporter, who had loudly declared when Town scored their first goal: "If we can't beat this lot you will never see me down here again."

How they rated: Salisbury 6; Rigby 7, Mercer 8, Taylor 7, G. Smith 7; P. Smith 7, Cliff 7, Mayers 6 (Whittal-Williams 7 from 75min), McKenna 6, Ashcroft 6, Ward 6 (Foster 7 from 70min).