Slow start to the season

Looking at the result in isolation this looks like a rather inauspicious start to the season. Make your home ground a fortress and all that gone in the first game but putting the actual result aside there were a number of positives to take from this seemingly heavy defeat. Firstly Long Sutton scored their goals in two bursts so effectively the scoring was done in ten minutes. That obviously means that for 60 minutes the game was 0-0. Also Kettering were slightly undone by the morning and early afternoon withdrawals respectively of Brookes and Dell'Utri leaving them with a bare eleven. Allied to Hawkins being still injured after a water park knock and Donnelly still suspended Kettering were somewhat experimental.

The game itself started fairly evenly and was rather uneventful. Kettering forced Long Sutton to turn over the ball in their own half and were structurally much better than in pre season. Long Sutton scored from a short corner breakdown, doubled their lead from open play and a reverse stick shot made it 3. A Suttoner was yellowed just before the break but Kettering went in feeling a little hard done by as it wasn't really a 3-0 half.
The second half played out to a similar theme; a two goal salvo, the first a great example of chasing lost causes and the second a lob after Kettering coughed up possession on their 25 leaving them somewhat exposed completing their 5 goals. A crude foul on the effervescent Haydn Young saw a Sutton defender correctly see green, upgraded to yellow for moaning and then foolishly threw his stick at the fence for a ten! I feel your author will have to get used to players not being sanctioned for misdemeanours, certainly in away games.

So 5-0 but plenty to work on. We were somewhat shot shy and it was a game of one team taking chances and the other not really creating any. Also Long Sutton perhaps wanted it a bit more and came out on top in the 50:50s as well as being a bit quicker to the ball. We will play worse than that and probably win so still all to play for. Next week off to Cambridge for the first time this season.

#thatsagreenallday #shootmore #dontgetlobbed

Other results
Camb South 3 9-0 St Ives 3
Nomads 2 1-2 Wisbech 2
Bourne 2 0-2 CoP 5
Camb City 6 3-0 Spalding 2