Men's 3rd XI lose by the odd goal in three

Kettering 3rd XI started their league campaign with a closely fought encounter with St Ives 4. The two sides were quite evenly matched as you'd expect for teams with title aspirations. Kettering had the lions share of possession but struggled to create clear-cut chances. Nick Cusk forced a good save from an impressive St Ives keeper when he put in a powerful flick from a short corner. Andy Bull fired in a first-time shot after good work down the right by Paul Brooker, but once again the shot was blocked. Towards the end of the first half, Mark Hawkins, making his debut for the 3rds, intercepted a pass and drove into the circle. He cleverly drew the keeper but then elected to shoot instead of passing.

0-0 at the break and all to play for. Shortly after the restart, Kettering had a brief spell of poor defending that was to prove costly. A through ball was missed by Gary Thorpe which allowed a St Ives attacker space to have a shot. A deflection off Cusk's stick took the ball wide of the unfortunate Ray Norwood in the Kettering goal. A few minutes later, Cusk was caught in possession, the ball bounced around the circle and was then put into the bottom corner via a St Ives reverse-stick shot.

Kettering were left a bit stunned by this setback and tried to increase the tempo to get back into the match. Unfortunately, both Paul Brooker and Tom Ward got a bit carried away, received green cards and served temporary suspensions. Undaunted, the home side kept the pressure up and forced a series of short corners. Both Andy Bull and Dan Carter went close before Mark Hawkins rounded the goalkeeper and fired into the corner.

There was still time to go for the equaliser and both Josh Cox and Jacob Tattersall tried their best to make things happen in midfield. Kettering couldn't quite make the vital breakthrough but they were awarded a short corner in the dying seconds. The ball was slipped to Hawkins but he couldn't get the power behind his shot that he wanted, thus enabling the goalie to make the save and clear the danger.

The game finished 1-2 and Kettering were left ruing that brief period of defensive fragility. Next week, there is an intra-club league match with the 4th XI.