A LEAGUE win under their belt, Kendal return to Powergen Cup action tomorrow with a home match against Reading at Mint Bridge on Saturday.

This second-round tie will be the first competitive match between the clubs.

Kendal beat Longton 34-12 in the first round and if successful tomorrow will face a trip to the winners of the Richmond v Hertford match on Saturday, October 16.

Reading have been drawn away in six of their last seven Powergen Cup ties but they beat Scunthorpe 33-29 at home in the first round, James Bracken goes into Kendal's second row in place of the injured skipper Mike Capstick, with forwards Dave Preston and Mark Bowman unavailable because of work.

Team: S. Mulholland, J. Ladell, M. Armstrong, P. Graham, L. Ladell, D. Stephens, M. Airey, D. Bowles, D. Green, R. Harryman, A. Hudson, J. Bracken, L. Hayton, G. Holmes, D. Bowman. Replacements: A. Martindale, J. Nicholson, A. Nutter, P. Dodds.

The match is sponsored by the Alickados, and kicks off at 3pm.

Kendal 30 - Cleckheaton 27...

KENDAL won their first match in National 3 North 3 in the most dramatic manner imaginable when replacement wing Paul Dodds finished off a desperate final thrust to turn defeat to victory five minutes into stoppage time.

Dodds collected a crossfield kick from centre Phil Graham in space on the left wing inside the Cleckheaton 22 and dashed and dived over for the touch down to put Kendal ahead by one point.

Stand-off Dan Stephens completed the celebrations when he converted with a hum of delight still going round the ground.

The scene had been a sombre one among the home supporters after Cleckheaton had successfully chipped away at a 17-0 lead that Kendal had built up in a commanding first half display that had brought them two scintillating tries in the opening 10 minutes.

Instead, Cleckheaton, who had not stepped foot in the opposition 22 in the first half, turned the game on its head in the second half and the visitors crept ever closer until they scored a second try a minute before the end of ordinary time that gave them a 27-23 lead.

It had all begun so well for Kendal as slick, crisp handling cut through a Cleckheaton who still looked to be on the coach.

Using the full width of the pitch to get their pacy runners into play, Kendal scored their first try after four minutes when right wing Jon Ladell ran back a clearance kick that failed to find touch.

He linked with No. 8 Mark Bowman who cut back inside and found Andy Hudson in support before Simon Mulholland joined the line and dummied his way past the defence to go under the posts.

Stephens converted and two minutes later kicked a 28-metre penalty for a 10-0 lead.

Kendal probed for another opening and scored a second try after 10 minutes. Scrum-half Mark Airey's tappenalty was followed by quick hands down the left with Martin Armstrong slicing through and linking with Luke Ladell. First Hudson and then Dave Preston kept the ball alive until it reached Graham with a two-man overlap on the right.

He did not use it, however, wrong-footing his tackler for a thrilling run-in for a score which Stephens again converted.

Cleckheaton had not looked in the contest at this stage and it was with relief that full back Glen Boyd put over a penalty after 14 minutes to put them on the scoresheet.

Kendal cancelled it out when Stephen kicked a penalty for offside but there was a blow when Luke Ladell had to go off with a very sore back after finishing at the bottom of a ruck.

A high tackle which felled Armstrong, who looked to have beaten his man, left him with a closed-up eye but was not apparently enough to warrant a yellow-card. The penalty had to suffice as Stephens obliged and then saw a drop-goal bounce back off an upright before Cleckheaton clawed back another three points with a penalty of their own as Kendal turned round 23-6 ahead.

Cleckheaton upped their game in the second half and ex-British Lion John Bentley moved in off the wing to centre to orchestrate play.

The pressure allowed them to whittle away at the lead through a series of penalties, from which Boyd went for goal every time, successfully kicking three times to close the gap to 23-15, the last after replacement flanker Gary Holmes had been sinbinned for a late tackle.

Cleckheaton made the extra man count as they turned the scrum, won the ball on their put-in and worked it wide for scrum-half Julian Chard to dot it down over the line in the tackle.

There was just a minute left with Kendal grimly hanging on to a three-point lead when Cleckheaton centre James Mortimore broke a tackle and linked with fellow centre Mark Billington,who was left with an easy run-in near the posts.

Boyd's conversion handed them a 27-23 lead and it looked to be the winning score.

Incredibly, Kendal got themselves together for one last throw of the dice.

Stephens' chip over the top opened the way as he retained the ball and then Dan Bowman scooped up a pass one-handed and released Jon Ladell for a dart down the right.

The ball was recycled and swept wide the other way. Graham made the transfer quicker with a crossfield kick which found Dodds coming up in space. He embraced the ball and sped over for the vital try that transformed base metal into pure gold.