Kendal Town’s impressive unbeaten run came to an end last night when they went down 1-0 at Avro.
There was never much between the sides in a closely contested North West Counties Premier Division game.
Kendal had gone into the game without sharp-shooter Tom Kilifin who was unavailable. He has bagged 17 goals so far this season and is the club’s top scorer.
Manager Jimmy Marshall opted to replace the absent Kilifin with Finley Lynch to take on an Avro side lying third in the table to Kendal’s 15th.
It turned out to be a game of few clear-cut opportunities and the artificial surface proved tricky as players struggled to keep their feet in seemingly slippery conditions.
Lynch and Brandon Croskell-Robinson had Kendal’s main efforts of the first half with the first going narrowly wide and the second being straight at the home keeper.
The only goal of the game came on 23 minutes when a goal-kick from Danny Roccia was headed straight back and Darren Nightingale was outpaced by Ethan Sutcliffe who fired home.
Roccia made the save of the half right at the end when he got down well to keep out a shot from Tommy Lent down by the foot of his post.
Great work by Steve Yawson at the start of the second-half almost set-up Croskell-Robinson but he just couldn’t get his head on the cross.
When Yawson tried to cut inside on 63 minutes he was pole-axed by an awful tackle and the referee showed a red card to Jamie Rother.
The ten men were close to increasing their lead, though, six minutes later when substitute Enoch Likoy almost scored with his first touch but Roccia stuck out a foot to block the shot at his near post.
As the game entered the final 15 minutes Kendal dominated possession but found it difficult to break down the ten men.
Ryan Winder had one go from 30 yards but it was straight at keeper Grant Shenton who was untroubled and soon after he tried his luck again but once more the Avro keeper held it well.
In the end Kendal just couldn’t fashion the chance that might have got them a deserved share of the spoils.
