Back to Winning Ways for Kettering 1s

Another early start for Kettering to make it to Stourport for a 10am game. We are now all getting used to what 6am looks like on a Saturday. However, this didn't phase us and we were up for a challenge against 2nd in the league. The early pressure was in favour of Stourport but Kettering's defence held firm and the mids worked their socks off to keep the ball out of the D and to try to push forward. After roughly 15 minutes Kettering started to make some headway down the wings and we had a few chances on goal as we prevented Stourport from getting the ball out of their own 25. One of these attacking plays resulted in a shot from Cath Irvin which Harriet Graham deflected goal ward. We were a goal ahead which gave the whole team an uplift, but we knew Stourport have some tricky forwards and also had the advantage of being used to their bouncy home pitch. Staying solid in our formation was going to be key in keeping the lead. Before the end of the 1st half Kettering had to defend a couple of penalty corners but Kate Metcalfe's saves and some good tackling kept the ball out of our goal. The 2nd half was again very even. Some tackles on both sides started to get a bit frantic as both teams pushed for a goal. In the last 15 it was noticeable how much Kettering were trying to pack out the D to prevent an equaliser being scored as we didn't get the passing around the midfielders that we had had previously. However a couple of breakaway chances came from some cracking balls from just over the half way line into the D from Cath Irvin and Kate Randle which Mandy Starsmore-Young twice took in the air to deflect toward goal. Only some great saves from their keeper kept the ball out. The game ended 1-0 and 3 points to Kettering which gave us safety in the league and also moved us up to 6th place due to other results going our way. Stourport were obviously upset by the loss and some harsh words were had by a couple of their players back at the changing rooms. Sour grapes wont affect us. Kettering are on a high with 3 games to go where we'll be looking for more points!