Kettering 6-2 Pelicans

Pelicans arrived after a long journey from Kings Lynn still just about in the promotion hunt but departed having been dismantled by a rampant Kettering. Having lost the previous encounter in the Fens 5-1 and knowing that Pelicans are poor travellers Kettering set about their opponents with a high press to force mistakes. The unseasonally hot weather meant the pitch was quite sticky and Kettering used this to pressure the Pelicans back line. On top from the off Kettering eventually broke the deadlock from a short corner, Grant Carlin firing home. An uncharacteristic Paul Donnelly slip allowed Pelicans to equalise from close range. The lead was restored at the end of the first half when man of the match Ross Mathieson fired home following another set piece. Ant Paton’s saw green just before the break but this caused Kettering no alarms.
The second half saw Kettering unleash all the tricks led by Pat ‘magic hat’ Cawley whose overhead volley of a Carlin aerial nearly set up Lewis Pywell for what would have been goal of the season and brought gasps from the large crowd. Donnelly made amends for earlier by scoring to give Kettering a cushion and then goals followed at regular intervals. Carlin bagged his second, Pywell scored (and had an absolute screamer disallowed) and Cawley made it six. Pelican had time to reply from a short corner at the death. Ed Jennings saw green for a fairly innocuous challenge and Jacques Laurens received a yellow late on.
The big plus again was the success of Kettering’s junior player production line with Harry Tanser and Tom Storey both proving influential despite being 15 and 14 respectively.
Next week Kettering travel to leaders Cambridge Nomads who will be keen to virtually seal promotion but more importantly avenge the defeat they suffered at Kettering in November.