Kettering 1-2 Earls Barton

KETTERING LADIES 3rd TEAM v EARLS BARTON 10th February 2018
This was a vital fixture for the 3rd team – a win would almost certainly see them retain their place in division 1 for next season while a loss would make this task unbelievably difficult with only five fixtures to go, two of those against the top two teams in the league
The thirds were lacking a number of key players but despite that started well with the midfield players Sophie Richardson, Natalie Irons and Julia Telford pressurising the Earls Barton defence and forcing numerous mistakes by the opposition. Skilful moves and great passing gave Sam Bedford and Sandra Mandziuk chances in the “D” and both went close to open the scoring. Sophie Richardson in particular had an outstanding game, always first to the ball she made devastating runs down the field skilfully weaving her way past the defenders. She was ably supported by Simran Pelhay and Sam Bedford who worked tirelessly to get into good goal scoring positions. Following one outstanding run Sophie crossed the ball into the “D” and found Simran in the perfect position to slot the ball home to open the scoring for Kettering.
Earls Barton picked up the pace and began to find their way into the Kettering 23 but were no match for Sophie Guyett, Beth Hardy and Eleanor Izzard who picked off any crosses into the “D” and re-set the attack. Natalie Irons, also having a fine game in midfield, continued the attack as she drove forward into the Earls Barton “D”. There was some great movement between the forwards and the pressure began to tell as a shot on the goal was stopped on the line by a defender’s foot and a penalty stroke was awarded. Unfortunately, the stroke was not converted and Earls Barton took advantage to mount serious attacks of their own. They won a penalty and a good strike by the Earls Barton forward took an unkindly deflection and found its way past keeper Kate Metcalfe who had little chance to save the shot. Kettering entered the break with a disappointing 1 – 1 score line.
The second half saw Kettering pushing for the winning goal and Megan Newlyn, stepping up from the 4th’s made some good moves down the left. Laura Newlyn made some telling tackles in defence and the team continued to mount one attack after the other seeking the winning goal but were caught on the break and a cross into the “D” from the right was deflected giving Kate Metcalfe no chance to stop the goal. Kettering were not to be outdone however and every member of the team gave everything to open up the game and get at least one point from the game which was slowly but surely drifting away from them.
The team created many chances and had a number of shots on goal while the defence were not put under any undue pressure in the second period. Kettering forced a number of penalty corner but could not convert them and a number of careless passes saw a number of goal scoring opportunities go astray.
A very disappointing result, felt by the whole team who all realised the importance of this fixture.
TEAM
Kate Metcalfe Beth Hardy Jan Randle Sophie Guyett Eleanor Izzard Simran Pelhay Sandra Mandziuk Sophie Richardson Sam Bedford Natalie Irons Julia Telford Megan Newlyn Laura Newlyn.