A SMOOTH Powergen Cup victory over Longton on Saturday got Kendal into a winning frame of mind and they go seeking their first league success of the season against newly-promoted Cleckheaton at Mint Bridge on Saturday.

Ex-British Lion and England threequarter John Bentley is Cleckheaton's Director of Rugby and names himself in the starting line-up.

The Yorkshire club came up into National 3 North after winning in the play-offs and have won both of their league starts this season, beating Fylde 19-17 at home and Darlington Mowden Park 16-13 away, the latter side also suffering at their hands in the cup with a 28-17 defeat.

Kendal have a home draw against Reading in the cup's second round on October 2. If successful they will be away to the winners of the Richmond v Hertford tie.

Kendal name a full-strength side for Saturday's match, which is sponsored by Kurkri Sportswear, and kicks off at 3pm .

Kendal team: S. Mullholland, J. Ladell, M. Armstrong, P. Graham, L. Ladell, D. Stephens, M. Airey, D. Bowles, D. Green, R. Harryman, A. Hudson, M. Capstick (capt), D. Bowman, M. Bowman, A. Bateson. Replacements: A. Martindale, D. Preston, L.

Hayton, P.Dodds.

n Kendal Seconds lost 43-14 away at Manchester, while the Hornets won 67-5 home to Bury. The Colts beat Leigh 43-0 with Brett Ashley and Josh Musgrave each scoring two tries and Tom Barton, Stephen Moss and Nathan Woof one apeice. Skipper Tom Barton slotted four conversions.

Kendal....................... 34 Longton.................... 12 THE NEW Kendal change strip was lemon coloured, but after an authoritative 34-12 Powergen Cup victory over Longton perhaps there was more sunburst yellow about it after all!

The Mint Bridge side were out to convince that two league defeats did not paint a true picture of their abilities and, for the first half at least, they achieved the objective.

Longton's relegation last season looked fully understandable. Busy and combative they might be, but they lacked anything to match Kendal's pace and verve, which settled the issue readily with three first-half tries.

Stand-off Dan Stephens had an 100 per cent day with his kicking and put over two penalties inside the first 15 minutes to boost the home team's confidence.

In a sounding-out period at the set-pieces, Kendal discovered that the driving maul was an effective tactic and they exploited it for their opening try after 25 minutes.

When Longton were left a man short after a yellow-card for a blatant punch, Kendal kicked the penalty to the 22 and from the catch and drive Dan Bowman crashed over, with Stephens' conversion extending the lead to 13-0.

Two minutes later Kendal were rampaging through midfield as Stephens put Paul Dodds in the clear and second-row Andy Hudson supported well before Stephens popped up again as link-man to send Duncan Green over behind the posts for his first try for the first team.

Another well-struck conversion gave Kendal a healthy 20-0 lead and they looked capable of running big score into an ordinary-looking defence.

Kendal's midfield spark blazed up again shortly before half time when they counter-attacked from a high kick from behind the Longton scrum close to the 22.

Luke Ladell collected and sidestepped men twice before the ball was passed from the left side to the right where his brother Jon burst clear and found Simon Mulholland on his shoulder to finish off a majestic flowing move.

Kendal went 27-0 ahead 10 minutes into the second half when Dave Preston took a quick tap penalty and set up a ruck close to the tryline from which scrum-half Mark Airey found a gap to score a fourth try, Stephens adding the extra points.

But with Kendal forced to make a series of changes, including Airey's replacement at scrum-half by Jon Ladell, it became increasingly difficult to maintain the momentum.

Instead Longton enjoyed their best spell of pressure and scored two tries in a minute to give them a veneer of respectability.

When a Kendal attack faltered as a pass went to ground, Longton centre Simon Price scooted down the right wing from well inside his own half for an unconverted score.

Straight from the restart Longton again breached the home defence with surprising ease as stand-off Matthew Chambers made the final thrust over.

Scott Rollins added the extra points to make it 34-12 and Kendal responded by raising their game sufficiently to ensure that the feelgood factor remained.