GOALKEEPER James Salisbury gave Kendal Town a length of the pitch lifeline and they grabbed it with relish to run out 3-1 winners in a match they had looked like losing with less than 20 minutes to go.

Salisbury punted a towering clearance that bounced in front of Goole keeper Simon Cooke, reared up and was carried by a gust of wind over his head into the net.

The 77th-minute goal cancelled out a first-half strike by Goole and spurred Town into a frenzied final 10 minutes in which they scored twice more.

In the end the victory was well deserved from a match in which Kendal had enjoyed the bulk of possession.

Early in the first half Lee Ashcroft hit the bar, Stuart Cliff volleyed just over and Cooke saved well after a good cross into the heart of the Goole box was stabbed goalwards by Chris Ward.

Ricky Mercer hit the side netting and in the 38th minute Goole's goal amazingly survived intact as a barrage of Kendal shots were desperately hacked clear.

Against the run of play Goole broke down the right a minute before half-time and captain Nigel Danby was on hand with a sharp header from 10 yards as the ball was swung into the danger zone.

As the second half progressed Nigel Taylor was outstanding in Town's strong defence but skilful midfield play was let down by lack of ability to penetrate up front as Goole, second bottom of the UniBond League First Division table, defended in depth in a bid to hang on to their lead.

It began to look as if the game was slipping away when Salisbury's monster kick eluded the hapless Cooke, who had been faultless until that moment.

Salisbury's lucky strike galvanised Town and their cause was helped by the substitution of the more direct and speedy David Foster for Ward, who had lacked incisiveness.

Foster immediately saw his goal-bound shot ricochet off Cooke's legs, but further pressure brought a long ball from the right across the Goole area. It was chested down by Ged Smith for Nigel Taylor to rifle a top-quality half-volley into the top left hand corner of the net.

Five minutes later Ian Kilford and Foster combined well down the right with Foster squaring the ball to Ashcroft who stroked it home under Cooke's despairing dive for Kendal's third goal.

How they rated: Salisbury 8; Rigby 8, Sparrow 7, Taylor 9, McKenna 7; P. Smith 7 (Kilford 7 from 75 minutes), Cliff 7, Mercer 7, G. Smith 7 (Whittal-Williams 6 from 85 minutes); Ashcroft 8, Ward 6 (Foster 7 from 75 minutes).