No Lack of Effort but Another Defeat

Liam Hayton and Dom Musetti returned to the side, with Garry Holmes coming in at hooker. Damian Armstrong replaced Chris Park at fullback.

There was early concern for Kendal when Danny Barker needed a long period of treatment, and it initially appeared that an early replacement would be required, but he stayed on and ran the injury off, playing the whole game.

Opening exchanges were even, but Ilkley opened the scoring after ten minutes with a penalty by their top scorer, right wing Joe Rowntree. 3v0.

The lead was quickly extended. Kendal were on the attack, but the ball was lost in the tackle and Ilkley gathered and moved it quickly to wing Lewis Johnson (?), who beat the Kendal defence to score, with Rowntree putting over the difficult conversion. 10v0.

The two teams were following different strategies, with Ikley keeping the ball in hand, whilst Kendal tried to put long kicks down field for position, but too often these were just giving easy ball for Ilkley to set up more attacks

After lineout problems last week, the Kendal lineout was working very well, and was even stealing the occasional ball on their opponents throw.

Midway through the half, when Kendal lost the ball on the attack, Ilkley spotted a big gap, and a long kick was put down the centre of the field, but James Gough did very well to not only get back, but also to get away a good clearing kick.

As the game entered the second quarter, Kendal appeared to be getting the upper hand, and with play deep in the Ilkley half, less ball was bring kicked away, and Kendal runners were staring to test the Ilkley defence which was giving away a number of penalties.

Several times the ball was put to touch, and after the lineout was secured, the Kendal pack drove to the line, but excellent Ilkley defence, and handling errors kept allowing Ilkley to clear their lines.

Kris Bratton made a good run into the Ilkley twenty-two, but when he was stopped, a loose pass meant momentum was lost. Several times Will Montgomery found gaps in the Ilkley defence, and was able to make good ground, before being hauled down.

Finally with the half in the fourth minute of added time, Glenn Weightman opened the Kendal scoring with a penalty. 10v3 at half time.

Four minutes into the second half there was a blow for Kendal as Kris Bratton, who had been looking sharp when the ball got to him, was force off. Mark Carruthers came on and was to have another good game.

After ten minutes Ilkley were temporarily reduced to fourteen men, when No.8 JH Johnson was given a yellow card for an illegal tackle.

Mark Carruthers looked as if he had got the opening try for Kendal, as he finished a move in the right corner, but had been forced into touch, before getting to the line. Damian Armstrong, who had been having a difficult afternoon, in the unaccustomed role of fullback, made a good break, but again a loose pass ended the attack.

Play was moving from end to end, but both teams were losing ball with handling errors.

With twenty five minutes played Kendal made a second change with Blake Robinson coming on for Garry Holmes, with Matty Houghton moving to hooker.

The second half deadlock was finally broken after half an hour, when a good cross field handing moved saw Ilkley add a second try to extend their lead, with Joe Rowntree again converting 17v3.

Damian Armstroing had been injured in the build up and was forced off, with Garry Holmes returning, Matty Houghton going onto the right wing, and Mark Carruthers moving to fullback.

Kendal continued to look for a further score to narrow the deficit, but could find no way through a good defence, which was up very quickly to cut off attacking options.

At the end of normal time, Dom Musetti was forced off and Josh Coyle came onto the field.

A much improved performance, but this made the scoreline more disappointing, as there were certainly opportunities, especially in the last twenty minutes of the first half for Kendal to have taken control, but Ilkley had the edge in attack and were tireless in defence.

The last ever home game at Mint Bridge next weekend, and there will need to be a further improvment, if the team are to get the result everyone wants, against a strong Billingham team.

KENDAL WEBSITE MAN OF THE MATCH : Liam Hayton
A big spread of votes but Liam topped the list for his first MoM of the season, and on an afternoon where the lineout worked much better Ben Leacock was just behind him, along with Matty Houghton