Weather the Only Winner

A fortnight’s break since the Harrogate game, saw the return of long term absentees Zane Butler and Kris Bratton in the back division, but Mike Fearon was now out. In the pack Ben Leacock who had been unavailable for the last game, plus the injured Will Montgomery and Chris Downham returned.

A late change saw Matt Charters drop out, with Liam Hayton moving up from the bench to the second row, and Will Montgomery move into the back row.

A second game at the new Mintbridge, and the effects of storm Brian were predicted to arrive for kick off.

Another tough opposition as the visitors topped the table, having only dropped one point all season.

Despite playing into the wind it was Lymm who made the better start, and put the Kendal defence under pressure, but a combination of good tackling, some poor options and handling errors in the difficult conditions, meant there was no repeat of an early score.

Having held out, Kendal started to attack themselves but a well organised Lymm defence seemed to be under little pressure.

Both teams suffered from handling errors, with Lymm also seeing a number of passes taken away from players by the wind, but Kendal were not able to benefit.

Kendal had a chance to take the lead, when Lymm were penalised for obstruction, when Kendal failed to compete at a lineout, but the difficult kick drifted wide.

The Kendal pack was getting the upper hand in the scrums and managed to steal ball on a number of occasions on the Lymm put in.

There was a blow for Kendal after twenty five minutes when they were reduced to fourteen men with a yellow card for Matty Houghton, but the defence held firm.

There was a chance for Kendal when Chris Downham made a break from his own half after a scrum, only to undo all his good work, by not spotting Dini Noyo and Will Montgomery who had done well to get in support, and failed to get a pass away, instead running into tacklers.

There was a let off for Kendal when they were penalised after a scrum in front of their own posts, but the Lymm kicker over compensated for the wind, and what would normally have been a simple kick went wide.

After thirty five minutes there was another injury blow for Kendal, as the referee had to stop play for an injury to centre Damian Armstrong. Both teams left the field for ten minutes, whilst the medical teams got him onto a stretcher, with what appeared a serious injury.

When play resumed Danny Barker came on as a replacement, and five minute later he was to get the opening score.

With seven minutes of added time played, Lymm were on the attack in the Kendal half, when a short pass somehow found its way into Barker’s hands. Whilst the Lymm defence initially looking as if may get back to catch him, he did not need Glen Weightman in support, and found the extra pace to go over under the posts himself, with Chris Park adding the conversion. 7v0.

There was an extra five minutes of play before half time, but no extra scores, so Kendal had a slim lead to defend, playing against the elements in the second half.

Kendal started the second half well and confusion in the Lymm defence on the left, saw Brett Ashley gather a ball, but the forwards could not get the ball to ground and conceded a scrum to allow Lymm to clear their lines.

Kendal were then forced into a long period of defence in their own twenty two, but whatever Lymm tried, the defence was equal to it.

Weather conditions also seemed to worsen, making it increasingly difficult for Kendal to successfully clear their lines on the rare occasions they had the ball.

After twenty five minutes, Zane Butler was forced off and Mattie Kaye came on, but Dini Noyo stayed at scrum half with Kaye going onto the wing.

Lymm finally broke the Kendal defence after half an hour. They were held up over the try line to give them a scrum, only for the Kendal eight to steal the ball, and make ground only for the rushed clearance kick to make little ground. From the lineout, it looked as if Matty Houghton had stopped an attack, but the Lymm forwards drove their player over for the try, which fullback Cormac Nolan converted. 7v7.

Lymm had a chance to win the game, as when the referee adjudged Kendal to have knocked on at a ruck in their own half, a player disputed the decision, and was penalised, but the difficult kick drifted wide.

Both teams looked for a winning score, and Kendal possibly finished the half the stronger, having their best phase since the beginning of the half, but when a Lymm attack was ended with a knock on, a minute into added time, the referee blew for fulltime.

Both teams may see this as points dropped, in a game spoilt by the weather conditions.

Kendal Website Man of the Match : Dom Musetti
A very late vote, just tipped the balance in Dom's favour, to just edge out Glenn Chesher and Ben Leacock
Eleven of the starting fifteen got at least one vote, in by far the biggest vote of the season so far (50% higher than from the bumper crowd at the Preston Grasshoppers game)
===================
For those of you who (like me) don't normally look at the Facebook and Twitter accounts this is a link to the latest news on Damian Armstrong
===================
QUIZ ANSWERS
The last draw for the First XV was almost four years ago. Who were the opposition ?
Leigh - a late Garry Holmes try, saved a loss against a team who previously had not won a game - but this was the game we loss three backs (James Gough, Ollie Field and Jordan Johnson) before half time with Ben Craghill and James Thompson finding themselves on the wings (Matty Houghton was watching injured from the touchlines)
===
That was away from home. The last home draw was in 2008. Who were the opposition ?
(Clue : I had the correct team - but the wrong year)
This was not meant to be a trick question, but when I checked again, my memory was better than my eyesight, as the last home draw was in 2006 (the 2008 was away)
It does not matter as the answer is the same Fylde.
One of four draws in five seasons against the same opposition.
It was the first time we had avoided a loss in the Centenary season, and we were denied a win, by a penalty in the fourth minute of injury time, by ex-player Mike Scott, having been 22v3 up at half time.
Twelve of the Kendal points came from Chris Park (a try, penalty and two conversions), whilst James Gough, Liam Hayton and Garry Holmes also played.