Town’s ladies crashed to a disappointing 7-1 home defeat on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon to Abbey Town in this latest Cumbrian Woman’s League encounter. The same problems were pretty evident, for Kendal, individually they are very good players, however as a team they aren’t connecting as yet and it’s something which is a huge problem at the moment. I must say that despite the heavy defeat, the effort as always was 100% despite the manner of the defeat. Kendal shipped 3 goals in the 1st half, and despite creating a couple of half chances Town’s ladies failed to make an impact on The Abbey Town goal. The 2nd half was slightly better, however a lack of understanding within the team led to them conceding 3 more goals, before managing to grab a consolation through a close range finish from Michelle Raven. However Abbey Town capitalised on an unfortunate error by the Kendal keeper to grab the 7th and the last goal of the afternoon. Overall: I was probably more disappointed by this latest defeat, than I have been by the other losses that they have had. I report on their matches every week and going into this one I like the rest of the team genuinely felt that they could win this match!. However in fairness, Abbey Town played some good football, and for them that’s now 2 wins from the last 2 matches. For Kendal it’s really now a case of getting it together as a team, because they are all good player’s. I would also like to close by praising Martina Gerdken who sadly played her last game for Kendal, she was only with us for 3 months and is now flying back home to Germany. She played well on Sunday as she has done for all the matches that The Ladies team have played! The Ladies next match is home to Penrith AFC Development, on Sunday 23rd November 2008, with the match kicking off at 1pm.

Kendal Team Line up: 1,Caroline Cropper,2,Adele Thompson,3,Gemma Egelstone,4,Hayley Banks,5,Sam Moran,6,Lisa Mcclure,7,Michelle Raven,8,Nichola Gardner,9,Faye Armstrong,10,Martin Gerdken,11,Kerry Doyle. Subs: 12, Sophie Bank’s 17,Leah Dacre

Report by Richard Edmondson

Kendal Town Ladies football team was set up in August 2007, at last providing an opportunity for women in the area to play club football after the age of 16. Within days of its formation, the team was already in action against a Gateshead team at the Lakeland Radio stadium. Kendal gave a good account of themselves on their first outing, despite not having trained together beforehand! Several training sessions later, the ladies played their second game against a Lancaster University team in December, and showed how much they had improved since their first game. They were by far the better team in the first half and went ahead on 8 minutes when Amy Braithwaite finished neatly, however Lancaster pulled one back on 22 minutes through their captain, Jenny Murphy. The second came to life in the last 20 minutes as Ellen Batteson and Danielle Frazer both came close to scoring. Unfortunately, it was the visitors that bagged two late goals, claiming a 3-1 victory. Nevertheless, Kendal can take heart from an excellent performance, which bodes well for the future. This season is very much a season for development, as Kendal prepare to enter a proposed Westmorland Ladies league next season. Return fixtures are planned against the two teams they have already played, along with a further friendly game against Ambleside. The team currently trains at the Lakeland Radio stadium on Thursday at 6.30pm, although a move to the astroturf at Q.E.S, Kirbky Lonsdale, is planned in the near future. All new players are welcome to come along!

For further information, please contact Tammie Ashton on: 07892883451 tammie.ashton@yahoo.co.uk