RAMS 2-4 KENDAL TOWN
Matt Dudley goes on the attack shortly after his equalising penalty kick.
After a heavy defeat in midweek, the Rams were looking for a change of fortune on home soil, but despite their trademark passing game looking pleasing on the eye, the defensive problems came back, once again, to haunt them against a Kendal team that they had beaten earlier in the season in Cumbria.
It was the visitors who opened the scoring after 25 minutes, when Jacob Gregory found room in the right- hand side of the box, and floated a superb effort into the far top corner of the net.
At that time the home side could have been a couple of goals to the good as Harvey Whyte stroked his effort wide when a goal looked certain, and another of his free-kicks sailed inches past the far post.
However, despite the home side’s chances coming, it was Kendal who struck next after 32 minutes, with Robert Wilson sliding home from a tight angle, although Rams keeper Kai Calderbank-Park would have been disappointed not to have kept the soft effort out.
The Rams continued to probe and found a way back into the game with the strangest of goals on 37 minutes. The ball landed at the feet of Whyte, out on the right hand side of the area, and his cross took a wicked deflection off a Kendal defender and lobbed high over the visiting keeper before sailing into the far corner of the goal.
That inspired the home side, and although trailing at the break, they came out looking to level the scores and their effort was rewarded on 64 minutes when the referee pointed to the spot for a blatant foul as Maine Walder raced into the box, and up stepped Matt Dudley to convert to make it 2-2.
At this point, the home supporters were optimistic that the fightback would produce a positive outcome, but just six minutes later, it saw the team on the back foot once more.
Some neat play on the left-hand side saw the ball worked inwards towards the edge of the penalty area, and Wilson was again on target with a low drive from 18 yards out.
So off again, as the home side looked to salvage at least a point, but some excellent defending from the Mintcakes kept every effort the Rams made at bay, and, as if to rub salt into the wound, with two minutes to go, in an attempt to thwart another Ramsbottom attack, a long clearance found James Bailey who outstripped his marker to race into the area and slip in a low drive from an acute angle, and put the game to bed with a 4-2 score-line that was rather tough on the hard-working Rams.
But another defeat sees the team slide a couple of places down the table, with the need to start a positive run becoming more and more desperate if they are to cling on to any hopes of reaching the end-of-season play-offs.
Manager Steve Wilkes again bemoaned the outcome: “Another disappointing defeat at home.
“I think it’s plain for everyone to see where our problems lay, and that is we can’t keep a clean sheet.
“I thought when we got it back to 2-2 from 2-0 down, we’d go on and win the game, but once again our defensive frailties came back to haunt us”.
RAMSBOTTOM UNITED: Calderbank-Park, Hayhurst (Ogunby 59), Walder, Lent (Roscoe 89), Radcliffe, Johnson, Walker, Sephton, Dudley, Whyte, Lewis (Jackson 78) Subs not used: Rigby, Lockett
Att: 277
