Congleton Town have reached the final of this year’s Macron Cup with a dominant 3-0 display over Kendal Town.

The Bears will now face Bacup Borough on the 8th May at Chorley’s Victory Park.

Richard Duffy’s men asserted their dominance from the first minute as Jon Beaumont saw an effort whistle narrowly wide of the post in the opening moments of the game.

The midfielder was heavily involved in the opener too, it was Beaumont’s flick on from Pete Williams’ free kick that was met by Ethan Hartshorn who volleyed home from six yards out.

Williams very nearly doubled The Bears’ lead minutes later as he tried an audacious looping volley from outside the box which was expertly tipped wide by James Hoskins.

Kendal had chances themselves with the best chance falling to Robert Wilson whose volley arrowed marginally past Dave Parton’s goal.

Following the interval, Congleton came out with the same intensity as the first half and within seconds Congleton were awarded a penalty after Tom Pope was hacked down following great work from Jordi Nsaka.

Lewis Short, who has scored in Congleton’s two recent penalty shootouts made no mistake in slotting past Hoskins.

Chances kept presenting themselves for the visitor’s with Dan Needham, Pete Williams and George Sankey all fractionally close to giving Congleton a well deserved third goal.

The third goal eventually arrived and it was a fitting end to a brilliant display with Tom Pope scoring his first goal in nearly four months as the striker plucked the ball out of the sky before slotting home.

Tom Pope: A professional performance

“I thought we shut up shop quite well at the back. Professional performance, they weren’t great but we did our job. Comfortable.

“To have so many disappointed lads to pick themselves up for another semi-final and put in a performance like that, its credit to the squad of players and management we’ve got.”

Tom Pope on getting back onto the scoresheet:

“I have had some good chances but I don’t base my game on goals, I base it on hold ip play, winning my battles and creating chances for the players. I’ve had an injury the last couple of weeks so that’s difficult but as a striker it’s always nice to score goals.

“Another nice day out [the final] for us, hopefully they turn out in their numbers, the fans have been fantastic for us this year but that’s down to Duffy and the management for us going on these runs, especially in the cups.”

Dave Parton: The most comfortable game we’ve had all year

“It was probably the most comfortable game we’ve had all year to be honest. We turned up and done really well. It was 3-0 but it could’ve been four or five. It was nice to get a comfortable route to the final.”

Dave Parton with a message on the fans:

“They’re brilliant are they. They are top people, it’s great to see how it’s grown the last couple of years, it’s class to see, it’s brilliant.”