A Close Draw

Kettering were playing at home this weekend against Bourne Deeping a team on the rise in the league table and showed a solid performance against ketterings so far solid defense but unfortunately for kettering the opposition found the holes and utilised the opportunities.

The first 10 mins was a very slow wake up from kettering something we thought was behind us and the team suffered from it with Bourne Deeping putting away 2 goals in the first 10 mins through poor defensive work from kettering failing to mark their players. Once kettering woke from their sleepy start ball began to be played well between all and started to create opportunities with youngsters george york, ned wilson and jack bridges using their youth and fitness to pressure the opposition as soon as they received ball. The first shot and almost goal came from a great strike from Geoff Elliot which Bourne Deepings goalie did well to get his little toe on it to see it just wide of the post.

Ketterings first goal came from Skipper jason clarke at their first short corner opportunity, normal clarke would be seen to stick stop but with a wide injection to his right he stopped and shot hard to find the bottom right corner. This got Kettering excited and allowed the team to grow with some confidence and not soon after George York had managed to find goal with a reverse slap from a rebound off the keepers pads.

This brought Kettering back into the game and gave some more attacking spirit and the opportunity's started to flow with another great attacking play ending with another George York Goal. Not long after this it was half time and a chance to consider the mixed performance thus far.

The second half started off with a few miss traps putting the pressure on Ketterings defense who soaked it up and allowed some more attacks on Bourne deepings goal with some more narrow misses. Kettering won a few short corners with an almost identical chance for the skipper Clarke who opted for the other post this time and narrowly missed the goal. Bourne deeping soon gained a short corner themselves and managed to convert it after a scrappy few shots on the Ketterings Keeper Matthew Coe. Nearing the end of the game and Kettering started a fierce attack up the left wing by Tom Ward who found Ned Wilson on the Left wing who played a lovely ball into the D which narrowly deflected off a defenders stick to leave a fast approaching Jason Clarke with a potential 1 vs 1 with the Bourne Deeping Keeper. However the came out strong and fast with Clarke not looking to ease the pace. The inevitable collision saw the skipper cartwheel over the keeper but jabbed the ball enough to rebound out to George York who dragged left and lifted the ball over to the left post and narrowly missed.

With time running out a short corner was won for Kettering and a change of short routine chosen for adam duell to strike the short ball out for the far post which saw a great deflection in from George York who made his 2nd hat trick of the season. The game soon ended with a 4 - 4 draw and kettering felt relieved to take a point away but dissapointed they could have taken more. Jack Bridges came away with man of the match for playing out of position in the midfield but held his own. Next week sees Kettering play at home to St Neots for the first game of the 2nd half of the season. Dont forget to come and watch will be another exciting game of hockey.