Hat-trick Harry is the Hero

Kettering travelled to Saffron Walden hopeful of a victory but their chances were dealt an early blow when veteran defender Richard Middleton had to withdraw due to a bout of man-flu.
The away side started well and got to grips with the bouncy, rubber crumb pitch. The Kettering forward line of Harry Tanser and Tom Sheffield were proving a real handful and it was Tanser who opened the scoring. He cut in from the left, passed a couple of defenders and fired a powerful shot into the bottom corner.
Phil Coward was also prominent in attack and he had the ball in the back of the net, only for the umpire to whistle for an earlier infringement.
Kettering were not to be denied and this time it was Tanser who turned provider with an incisive square pass for Sheffield to score his first goal with aplomb.
The home side looked to attack on the break and they seized upon a wayward pass from Kettering skipper Neil Manley. A mazy run from the Saffron Walden centre-forward took him towards the circle where he proceeded to evade a couple of tackles and coolly slot home past helpless keeper Gareth Tasker.
This re-energised Kettering, and Coward, Sheffield and Tanser combined with the latter restoring the two-goal cushion at half-time.

The visitors got a dream start to the second half when a flowing move was started off in defence by Jake Siddons, excelling in only his second competitive match. Dan Carter continued the move, swapped passes with Tanser and then finished past the prone Saffron Walden goalie.
Neil Manley surged forward to join the attack but his shot from an acute angle lacked sufficient power to trouble the keeper. Shortly afterwards, he made amends. A tremendous attacking move was set up by Dan Carter, who passed infield to Coward. His first-time pass into space was perfectly weighted for Manley to run on to and this time the skipper made no mistake and fired across the goal into the far corner.
Kettering continued to enjoy lots of possession and kept the pressure on the Saffron Walden goal. Tom Sheffield has several chances to add to his tally but couldn't take advantage.
Towards the end of the match Harry Tanser capped a fine display when he bagged his third. Manley crossed from the right and Tanser was on hand to finish from close range.

Next week, there is no league action but there will be a friendly match amongst the whole of the third team squad plus some additional up and coming young players.