Effort and Endeavour not enough

The rearranged fixture against Derby came on the weekend Kettering 2s had no Saturday match. Unfortunately this did not really benefit them as advantage had been taken of the break to arrange other activities. Still a full team of 11 players travelled to Derby through the rain for another tough match.
Kettering started brightly as they have in many matches this season,, playing the ball around and moving it forward. This brought an early reward of a short corner, a rarity. The Derby defence were out quickly and deflected the hard struck shot way up into the air and wide of the post for a long corner. A few minutes later Derby got a short corner of their own which was well struck into the corner. On the line Simon Chambers was unable to keep the ball out.
The game continued as a very open end to end affair with chances created at either end, unfortunately the relative inexperience of the Kettering forward line showed as they failed to convert any the chances whereas Derby converted two. 3-0 to Derby at half time.
The second half saw Kettering pressing hard, marking well and pushing forward. Yet more chances were produced and not converted. Young Jack Bridges in the forward line ran his socks off making himself available and chasing down lost causes all to no avail. Then with ten minutes to go Derby managed to break through the defensive line to score the only goal of the second half.
Another hard working team effort full of endeavour and work, produced a defeat for Kettering. The youngsters acquitted themselves well and the oldsters kept the game flowing but this just isn't enough to cover up the cracks. 4-0 to Derby.