Tale of two halves

Kettering started this clash with the top of the table team; Mansfield; in high spirits. Despite the gulf in position it was Kettering who came out the strongest. Their controlled play threatening to unhinge the well oiled Mansfield machine. That machine seemed out sorts with several wild passes going up and out. As such it was no surprise when Kettering took the lead. The surprise though was with who and how that occurred. After some great interplay Kettering worked the ball into the Mansfield D, only for the final shot to be blocked well by their keeper. Up stepped Jack Bridges, the youngest player in the Kettering team, calmly assessing the situation and then neatly lifting the ball over the prone and despairing keeper.
Not long after another opportunity was fashioned and as the ball was hit into the D it was neatly lifted and with a spin that would not be out of place in a ballerina followed by a strike fit for the baseball leagues Kettering were two nil up. After the game the Mansfield keeper was heard to say he'd got a hand to it but it was took good for him.
Boyed by these great goals Kettering looked for another but the Mansfield machine settled down founding the gears that have made it an unbeaten unit. Their passes started finding their target and soon Kettering were being pushed back. They managed several short corners, had a shout for a flick rebuffed, but eventually found a way through. The second equalising goal came from another short corner late on in the half, the ball slipped right from the top of the D and a string strike finding opposite corner unwatched.
2-2 at half time a fair reflection on what had been a hard fought close encounter. If only Kettering could find the right words at half time as they regularly seem to play worse from 36 minutes onwards. This was once more the case, as right from their own pushback they were under pressure and a mistake led to Mansfield finding an opening and a goal. All the hard work of the first half undone by a poor start. Things got worse though as Kettering could not seem to find the fluency they had earlier and were quickly in trouble as Mansfield found the net twice more.
With the match all but done, Kettering finally found their feet again, pushing Mansfield back and playing the ball around with more control. This resulted in two short corners. Although the first was badly taken the second resulted in a third goal for Kettering bringing some hope to the tiring team. Unfortunately there was to be no rousing comeback as Mansfield once more managed to break through to score their sixth and Kettering could not find the target to keep the pressure on.
A final score of 3-6 in Mansfield' favour probably a fair reflection on the overall performance although Kettering will feel if they could avoid that 15 minute spell at the start of the second half they might just have been closer.