KENDAL thought they had seen the last of Longton when the latter were relegated last season, but they make a quick return to Mint Bridge on Saturday in the Powergen Cup (3pm kick-off), writes Richard Daniels.

Home advantage ensures the Black and Ambers start favourites to win this first-round tie against the Potteries side, whom they twice beat, albeit narrowly, last season.

However, Kendal's start on the cup trail comes in the wake of an unsatisfactory performance in an 37-6 defeat at Macclesfield last Saturday.

It was a result which is hard to equate with the promise and determination shown by the side against highly-vaunted Halifax, when they impressed despite finishing the losers.

After two such contrasting displays, the Powergen Cup offers a timely chance for Kendal to regroup rather than be seen as an unwanted diversion to the league campaign as perhaps has been the case in the past.

Kendal coach Neil Rollings said: "The important thing is to restore the pride and urgency that we had shown against Halifax, and the way we play is perhaps more important than the result.

"We are unlikely to be playing Leicester in the final at Twickenham, but the club must use the cup for its own ends to find those qualities which we know we have and to regain the momentum."

Only a point separated the sides in a nailbiting 12-11 away victory last October after Longton failed with three attempts at goal in the closing stages, and there was another close finish to a 20-15 defeat for them in the return fixture in March.

Longton finished bottom of the league and were relegated with only one victory, but they won the Staffordshire Cup and have started life back in Midlands 1 with a compre-hensive 41-26 upset over Scunthorpe.

By the twist of the cup, if Kendal win tomorrow's tie they could face Scunthorpe at home in the second round, but only if the latter beat Reading.

Macclesfield.............. 37 Kendal........................ 6 AFTER the very good performance Kendal put in against Halifax the week before Kendal will be very disappointed with their poor showing at Macclesfield.

The first half went reasonably well for the visitors despite an early injury to scrum-half Mark Airey, who received an accidental boot to the head while making a tackle in the first five minutes and subsequently had to leave the field.

Full back Chris Park, who was wide with a 48-metre penalty attempt at goal in the fourth minute, was on target with a second attempt at goal when Macclesfield were penalised for being offside in midfield two minutes later, a feature of their game throughout the match.

Full back Gary Bell levelled the scores in the ninth minute when Kendal were penalised for not rolling away at a ruck.

A minute later Macclesfield had scored the first of their five tries.

From a scrum on halfway the ball was swiftly moved into the back line where left wing Steve Campbell beat two tackles to run in and touch down. Bell converted and added a penalty four minutes later when Kendal were penalised for breaking their binding early at a five-metre scrum.

Park then pulled three points back for Kendal when the home side were penalised for holding at a ruck three minutes before half time.

The second half got off to a bad start for Kendal when hooker Duncan Green was yellow carded for Kendal persistently offending at the ruck area, and did not improve as the second half progressed.

Macclesfield took full advantage of Kendal being a man down, scoring two tries. Firstly prop Rob Bieniasz crashed over from close range, converted by Bell, and then winger Steve Campbell was the beneficiary of hooker Paul Allen's burst through midfield, scoring an unconverted try wide out to make the score 25-6 in Macclesfield's favour.

Second-row Dave Muckalt scored Macclesfield's fourth try on 60 minutes before Bell himself crossed the tryline and also converted five minutes from the end to complete the scoring.

n Kendal 2nds fared little better against Macclesfield 2nds, being outscored by 74 points to 14. Stand-off Paul Dodds kicked three penalties and Craig Atkinson scored Kendal's only try of the afternoon at Priory Lane.

The Hornets, however, managed a 24-24 draw and had led up until the final ten minutes against Leigh in the opening game of their Fairclough Homes League campaign.

Last week Kendal Under-17s kicked off their Lancashire and Cheshire Colts League season with a 41-0 away victory over Aldwinians.