Men's 3rd XI lose to league leaders

Kettering travelled to St Neots for an early start against the league leaders and started the game brightly. There was lots of good interplay between James Hogg, Tim McDowell and Phil Coward. For the first 15 to 20 minutes, Kettering surprised the home side with the quality of their play and matched them in most departments.

Coward crossed for skipper Neil Manley whose resultant flick went narrowly past the top corner. Subsequently, a well-worked short-corner routine was nearly converted by Hogg.

The home side was rattled and their tempers frayed when Mike Ramsay tussled with their centre-forward. Ramsay kept his cool whereas the St Neots player launched a torrent of abuse at the umpire. Inexplicably, no punishment was forthcoming.

St Neots had to regroup and they were relieved when they finally made the breakthrough. They doubled their lead shortly before half-time with a goal that Kettering felt was preceded by a foul on defensive linchpin Nigel Parkes.

At the start of the second half, St Neots scored a good team goal that buoyed their spirits. More pressure followed and a penalty was awarded for a foot on the line. Keeper Ray Norwood was powerless to stop the resultant flick.

Kettering refused to lie down and continued to attack. Tony Heath was prominent as the visitors pushed forward. Hogg tested the keeper with a reverse stick shot and towards the end, Heath's deflected shot flew high and wide of the goal.

As Kettering pushed forward, St Neots finished off with two more goals to give the game a flattering scoreline.