Ravens Downed by Kendal

FC Isle of Man’s bad start to 2023 continued on Saturday night as Kendal Town picked up a 3-1 win at The Bowl.

The visitors were backed by a very vocal travelling 12th man, with about 100 believed to have made the trip across the Irish Sea.

After a bitty opening, Kendal found an opener through Jack McVey as a free kick on the Kendal right was floated in and the Ravens man was unfortunate to put through his own goal.

That goal seemed to wake the Ravens up as Paul Jones’ men had much of the ball for the rest of the first half and a Jamie Corlett was cleared off the line before Furo Davies’ header was saved on the line by the Kendal keeper, despite animated claims from the home side that the ball had crossed the line.

As they often do, FC Isle of Man came out playing better in the second half and when Davies was shoved over by Kendal’s Daniel Hammond, ref Jacob Widdowson pointed to the spot. Up stepped McVey, who calmly slotted past Daniel Roccia, bringing the Ravens level.

But as the home crowd began to think of a winner the Ravens were behind again through a freak James Stanley goal as his cross from 40 odd yards out caught the normally dependable James Rice out and dropped into the Ravens goal to gift Kendal the lead.

The Mintcakes would soon have a third through Finley Lynch who appeared to have taken the ball out of Rice’s hands, again despite Ravens’ protests, the officials were unmoved and Kendal extended their lead to 3-1.

If the Ravens were looking for some solace in Saturday’s game it came through the late appearance of club captain Frank Jones who looked sharp when he came on, forcing a smart stop from Roccia.

After the game, manager Paul Jones said FC Isle of Man are lacking in confidence and are in need of a boost, well any Ravens fans who were in early on Saturday may have seen just the boost they need as Sean Doyle was out doing a workout before the game.

Last season’s top scorer, who has missed almost all of this season so far, said on Twitter he is hoping to play later this month, with January 28’s game at home to Squires Gate his target.

Hopefully I’ll be joining Frank and the boys by the end of January, Mark! 28th is the aim ??

— Seán Doyle (@_Sean_Doyle_8) January 1, 2023

The Ravens have two away games in the next week, travelling to Squires Gate on Wednesday before  trip to Longridge Town on Saturday.