A Difficult Loss for 4's

Kettering 4's welcomed Cambridge Nomads 3's to the Bishop Pitch for their first home game of the league season. After a bit of wrangling and engaging the services of Neil Freeman from the 2's, Tom Sellars and Bill Greenwood, 4's were able to field a side again for the league meeting one of the objectives of Captain Justin Smith.
The game started brightly for Kettering. Confident passing all round the pitch but especially down the right, put the Cambridge team under pressure. Kettering were encouraged to push forward and succeeded in forcing Cambridge to giving away a succession of penalties. A couple of chances were created but unfortunately not converted.
The two sides continued to trade attacks through the first half and it wasn't until the 23 rd minutes when a good move by Cambridge caused a defensively lapse and the deflected shot just crawled across the line which the Kettering defense couldn't deal with. Kettering pushed forward again to gain the equalizer and forced a short corner, but again a decent shot on target couldn't be found. Then disaster, 8 minutes later a similar scratchy goal was scored. Kettering went into the break 2 nil down but still in high spirits and confident that a positive result could be achieved.
Positive words during the break invigorated the youngsters of the team and again numerous attacks down the right caused Kettering to push forward for their first goal of the season. Cambridge brought on a new player at half time who was late arriving who changed their dynamic up front. A very direct player who caused problems in the Kettering defense by pushing them backing and getting out of position. Eventually this told and a smart move from the left resulted in a cross that was slotted home. Bravely Kettering pushed forward again in a do or die manner seeking some form of success that their play justified. But to avail as two further goals were scored as the players began to run out of steam, and became more ragged in their positioning and play.
Hal Robinson narrowly took the man of the match award for his composure on the ball and his ability to beat his opposite number at will. But all of the other players deserve credit for trying to play good hockey and pushing forward when facing adversity. A bit of extra skill, effort, and a couple of returning players will soon turn these heavy defeats into wins. The future is looking bright and 4's should be proud of their performance if not the result.

Read Cambridge Nomads report of the game here:-
Nomads v Kettering match report