We do like a point beside the seaside

A KM2s side with the bare 11 players travelled to the infamous seaside town of Skegness to play AD1s this Saturday. T'was a long journey, but the point gained could prove to be vital. Alford's pitch was appropriately sandy, but the intermittent rain and hail throughout the match nulled the negative effects of the sand and aided Kettering in their slick passages of passing play. After a lengthy warm-up, Kettering were raring to go...
The game began. Alford came straight for the Kettering goal and were baying for blood from the word 'go.' Before the half had gotten past its infancy, though, Kettering had scored - George York poking the ball past the Alford keeper after a neat move engineered by Jack Bridges and Michael Lavender. 0-1! This lead would barely last a minute. Local boy (and one-time Alford player...) Max Foster hit a '16' straight to an Alford player on the halfway-line, who promptly surged forward with his teammates and the score was quickly levelled at 1-1. Though annoyed, Kettering didn't become disheartened. A short-corner save kept the score level; then Ben York put Kettering ahead with a great finish. Just before the half ended, Max Foster was snapped in two by an Alford player's tackle - one that would have been considered a brutal slide-tackle by even the most-hardened of football hooligans. Play on. Fortunately, nothing came of this and the half ended with Kettering's noses still in front.
The second half heralded the start of an Alford onslaught. Staunch defending by Kettering - which included a brilliant volleyed clearance by Adam Mills - frustrated Alford, who couldn't quite find the back of the net. Suddenly, Michael Lavender began racing forward with the ball - dodging and weaving his way into the 'D'; Kettering were amazed - could this be the goal Lav has been searching for all season? Sadly, Mikey's 'Giggs-esque' run ended with him over-stepping for his shot and falling flat on the floor in a brilliant example of bathos. Though Alford couldn't find the goal, Kettering couldn't either... The tense affair was made even more so by an Alford short-corner that broke down and was eventually nestled in the bottom left corner. 2-2. Things seemed to get a bit nasty from that point on, with Archie Colwill having to ride a tackle that was almost a case of GBH! For the rest of the match, nothing else of much note happened, frankly - with it ending 2-2.
Though the teas were quality, the away team were more than ready to travel back to the comparatively Edenic Kettering.

MoM: Tom Storey
DoD: Michael Lavender (for his run that ended in a sheepish walk back to defence)
MM: Matt Coe