THERE have been some memorable games at Parkside Road this season but few have topped Kendal Town’s 7-2 defeat to a Manchester United XI for sheer entertainment value.
A late surge from Town saw Paul Byrne and Alex Taylor bag a thoroughly deserved brace for Town to dent United’s seven goal advantage and give the bumper crowd reason to celebrate.
Kicking off in a torrential downpour it looked – for the first ten minutes at least – that Town would cause the young United side made up of academy players plenty to worry about. Carl Osman forced a good save early on while Foster and Wisdom also went close.
While United may have rode their luck early on once they got a foothold in the game some of the football they played was mesmerising and Kendal could simply not keep up.
United took the lead though Lee Martin who ran on to a Nicky Anjose ball and lifted the ball over the on-coming Newnes on ten minutes.
Kendal continued to work hard, but United’s ball retention saw Town go without a kick for long periods. United doubled their lead on 17 minutes with Martin firing past Newnes from inside the area.
Three minutes later the brilliant Robbie Brady scored a superb individual goal, cutting in from the left and lifting a shot into the to right leaving the rooted Newnes with no chance.
On 35-minutes Kendal had the ball in the net, David Foster brought Warburton’s delivery under control and fired past Conor Devlin, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
The second half saw wholesale changes for both sides but not for the score rate. Two minutes in United made it 4-0 through captain Oliver Norwood who beat Newnes at the near post to a low ball.
Kendal continued to look for a way back into the match, but United were to score three more before Kendal got on the score sheet. Brady doubled his tally on 68 minutes, and a long range effort from Ravel Morrison beat substitute keeper Tom Bush to make it six shortly after. Brady, whose playing style has more than a passing resemblance to Wayne Rooney’s, claimed his hat-trick on 81 minutes from a corner, volleying in from Norwood’s delivery.
With time almost out Kendal pilled forward and were awarded a late penalty as Bryne looked to be dragged down inside the area. The captain took the spot kick himself and sent the keeper the wrong way to get the biggest cheer of the day.
Alex Taylor added a late second for Kendal with virtually the last kick off the game firing into the bottom right corner after good interplay with Hobson to make a final score of 7-2 on a very memorable conclusion to Kendal Town’s season.
