Kettering 0-2 Cambridge South

The step up to Div 2N was also going to pose some challenges and Kettering learnt the hard way on Saturday when 5 changes from the side that beat Bourne the week previously meant they could not hold a strong Cambridge South team. Kettering gave Div 2 debuts to Max Foster, 16yr old Jack Bridges and fifteen year olds Tom Storey and Adam Mills from the junior production line and all played with performances beyond their years and this bodes well for the future of the club.
South were riding high near the top of the table despite a couple of recent hiccups and arrived at Bishop Stopford with a full complement of older, experienced players.
The game started with Cambridge in the ascendency, knocking the ball about from side to side but creating little of merit. Keeper Barry Coe was called on to make a sharp block when the forward probably should have done better. On a quick counter attack Pat Cawley was unceremoniously dumped by a South defender and both reacted angrily. Yellows all round? Amazingly not and this somewhat set the tone for the rest of the game. Ant Paton broke down a South counter with a WWE style tackle. Yellow? No, player ran into him. ( Kettering players see video and judge for yourselves). Grant Carlin was green carded for what passed as a reasonable tackle considering other things but no-one else went in the entire game so he can consider himself a bit unlucky. South scored from their only short corner of the half as a switched move created a half chance that Mikey Crane was unable to clear quicker than the forward was to score. Despite having some decent possession Kettering forced no reasonable chances.
The second half followed a broadly similar pattern. Kettering forced a short corner that was comfortably saved and that was really their only chance in the game and South bagged a second when some slack marking in the D gave a forward a fairly routine goal. Kettering were disappointed with their games but will benefit in the long term as exposure to physical games like this will only aid their youngsters' development and they will get stronger as the older sides in this league age. The future is looking very bright at Kettering. They know in this league they can compete and beat the best teams but need to bring their A game every week.

South version of events can be read HERE

Interestingly no mention is made of the incident when their centre forward was 'assisting' the umpire with his radio.