Fours fizz with 7up

This week saw Wisbech 4's journey from the Fens to visit the Bishop School pitch for the first time this season. They came with an inexperienced side of mainly younger players with a couple of older hands to keep things on the straight and narrow.

Kettering fielded a side mainly made up of players that have played together all season despite losing Frazer and Ludwig to the 3's. This gave an opportunity for Dan Carter to return to take a midfield berth and for Stuart Mitchell to make his league debut. In goal, promising young keeper, Sam Berridge made his 4's debut between the sticks. After playing two games with the 3's and having little to do and not having any goals scored against him. He was warned that he may have a busier day at the office.

Fours took the field with a warning not to underestimate the opposition and to keep it tight, however Lee Paris paid no heed and decided to go on a Messi like run straight from the push back, dribbling past several of the Wisbech players inot the heart of their defence. Alas, there was no Messi like finish and it all ended a bit messy like.

Seeing that the Wisbech that were not going to offer much, Fours continued to push forward driven on by bith Tim Plevin and Phil Rowbotham at right and left back respectively. For a good 20 minutes of the first half Kettering where camped in the Wisbech half scoring 3 goals . However, all was not rosy on the garden when the shape and intent of the team was lost releasing all of the pressure. this enable Wisbech to come forward themselves and force a couple of half chances in the D. However, both opportuities were knocked wide.

The second half saw kettering regain their shape and intent and attain the ascendency they enjoyed early on. Good simple passing hockey saw Kettering score a further 4 goals.

Lee Paris scored another hat trick of the season, taking his tally to 13 goals in 7 games. Another step to his personal goal of getting 20 before christmas. Shaun Curtus scored another 2 goals again confirming the good undertsanding that the two front men have. Tim McDowell and Ben Mayes joined them on the score sheet. Sam Berridge, had another game where he had little to do except watch the game unfolding in front of him. Overall, a decent performance by 4's but there will be tougher challenges ahead in the league.

Wisbech do deserve credit for not allowing there heads to drop and continuing to try and play some good hockey. They will be a tougher proposition on their home pitch.

Next week, there is a late afternoon trip to Cambridge South 5's where Kettering will be looking at exacting some revenge for the results from last season.