INCONSISTENT Kendal Town bounced back from their disappointing defeat at struggling Rossendale United by booking their place in the next round of the FA Trophy on Saturday.

They overwhelmed Ossett Albion with goals by Ricky Mercer, Stuart Cliff, Kenny Mayers and Lee Ashcroft effectively settling the issue before half-time.

Mercer, who put in an immaculate performance at centre half, opened the scoring on 14 minutes when he headed home a Russ McKenna corner kick.

Three minutes later Town grabbed a second when Cliff pounced on a defensive error before expertly guiding the ball over helpless Nick Clark in the Albion goal.

Under-strength Ossett were virtually ineffective in attack as they predictably looked for the pace of forward Michael Reynolds as their only outlet.

A Ged Smith free kick was met by Mayers who accepted the simplest of goal-scoring chances to put Kendal 3-0 up on 37 minutes and there was worse to follow for the Yorkshire side two minutes later when Ashcroft drove the ball past Clark.

There was no way back for Ossett, although they might have made the score sheet late on with a handful of half-chances, the best of which saw a low shot from Reynolds strike the post.

How they rated: Salisbury 7; Rigby 8, Mercer 9, Taylor 8, G. Smith 8; P. Smith 7 (J. Osborne 6 from 75 min), Mayers 7, Cliff 7, McKenna 7; Ward 7, Ashcroft 7 (Foster 6 from 75min).