THE GRIM faces of the Kendal players trooping into the Fylde's makeshift clubhouse told the tale of their part in this fascinating derby tussle which saw the visitors denied by a stoppage-time try, writes Richard Daniels.

Kendal had invested a huge amount of resourcefulness and commitment into hanging on to a narrow 8-3 lead and it was galling to see it wrenched away in the dying seconds.

At least they could console themselves that the failed conversion attempt meant they did not leave empty-handed, as they salvaged two points for the draw.

There was a sense, however, not for the first time this season, that Kendal had the firepower to blast an opponent clean out of the water, but could not quite home in on their target.

The bombshell metaphor extended to Fylde's ground, which is a well-managed building-site and it is sad to see another clubhouse of genuine character go the way of the corporate pound.

It was not a pretty spectacle on the field either, but a Kendal squad that had travelled by cars when the team bus failed to arrive on time, looked in good order in the opening skirmishes to do themselves justice.

Once again Martin Armstrong caught the eye and in the opening five minutes he cut through with an unnerving pace and effective hand-off that was only circumvented by a tap-tackle.

Indeed Kendal enjoyed the better of the first-half exchanges, but it did not quite add up on the scoreboard.

From another breakaway the 16th minute Simon Mulholland dazzled and dashed down the right until he was tripped, but the penalty to the corner failed to produce much as Fylde had most of the moves covered at the lineouts.

It was easy to see why Fylde were unbeaten at home this season as their mobile, drifting defence was extremely difficult to penetrate.

On attack, they turned that close co-ordination to good effect with a tight, driving style that made the hard yards. But with little ambition to go wide and a lack of composure when they tried to, they were containable.

With Mulholland temporarily off with a blood injury, Fylde drove through the middle for a formidable sequence of phases to threaten the tryline, but Kendal tackled with cool heads and were rewarded with an error, one of many from both sides.

The main excitement of the first half came with a Kendal counter-attack after 25 minutes which led to their only try of the game.

Good tidying up of a loose ball at the back of a lineout was followed by quick hands to sweep it out left and then right after prop Billy Coxon recycled it well at the breakdown.

When the switch came second-row Dave Preston popped up wide to put John Ladell away down his touchline, where he powered past the last man to complete a 40-metre run-in at the corner.

Stephens' long-range conversion just failed, but there was optimism that Kendal could build on this narrow lead.

Fylde were allowed a way back when they picked up a sloppy pass in their own 22 and winger Kevin Long shot upfield with an overlap.

Fortunately Mark Bowman got back well to make a vital cover tackle and Kendal were able to clear their lines from a penalty for holding on.

All of Kendal's best work in the second half came early on with confidence running high.

Dragging in the home defence at a driving maul, Kendal moved the ball out to Armstrong, who skipped past a couple of tacklers to find John Ladell in support. Ladell got a pass of sorts away in the tackle and Dan Bowman scooped it up to surge over the tryline, but the ball was adjudged to have gone forward.

Fylde redoubled their efforts after that scare and Quentin King drove over in the 47th minute. But the referee was not satisfied the ball had been grounded and awarded a penalty for an earlier offence, which Paul Green slotted over to close the gap to two points.

Kendal tried get their wingers back in the argument and Stephens opened up space with a crossfield kick that saw brothers Luke and John Ladell combine.

But the defence just held and Fylde went downfield, earned a kickable penalty that was then reversed for fighting on the ground.

Fylde held the upper hand at this stage but Mulholland did well to close out opposite number Richard Kenyon, who grounded the ball short, but they still forced their way back in a good field position only to kick a penalty to touch dead.

Strong running from Duncan Green and Richard Harryman seized the initative back and earned a penalty for offside that allowed Stephens to kick Kendal into an 8-3 lead with 10 minutes to go.

Fylde's mistakes continued as the fumbled away possession and it looked as Kendal were managing the situation well, playing in the Fylde half and running time down.

Stephens screwed a drop-goal attempt wide as Armstrong had done earlier, but Fylde were allowed a finalk thrust and kicked a penalty to the corner to pressure Kendal's line in stoppage time.

Kendal managed to turn the ball over at the breakdown but Airey's off-balance clearance kick missed touch. Instead Fylde collected the ball and got winger Evans over the line only for the final pass to be adjudged forward.

That gave Kendal the put-in at the scrum and a great chance of clearing the danger, but Airey had his pass spoiled and second-row Grant Ferguson squirmed through to drop on the ball to earn a face-saving try.

Green's conversion would have meant defeat for Kendal, and the miss was just as well as some of the visitors looked pretty suicidal at the draw at the final whistle.