Belper Blown Away

Kettering were feeling confident coming from a positive team performance last week. They just needed the result to reflect their efforts this week vs Belper 2s. The first few minutes Kettering were on the back foot as Belper pressed our D. Player of the Match Sophie Reynolds, playing her first game at Centre Back, controlled the ball and managed to win a free hit. From here Kettering just got stronger and stronger. Belper did not really get another chance to attack our D for the rest of the half. Some great marking from our back 4 and brilliant closing down in midfield meant Belper were kept bogged down in their half of the pitch. Kettering took the lead after roughly 10 minutes after a saved shot from Harriet Goswell rebounded to Linzi Webster who neatly swept the ball over the keeper. Harriet grabbed her own goal shortly afterwards from a Penalty Corner where Linzi became the feeder with a disguised ball across the D for Harriet to deflect in. We went into the half time break 2 - 0 up and feeling like we could get more. The second half started pretty much as we had left off the first half. Some great passing play across the team kept the pressure on Belper and some great running from Anna Elson got the ball behind Belper's defence a number of times. Not too long after the break Linzi got her 2nd goal, another sweep over the keeper from a defence splitting pass from Kate Randle in Centre Midfield. Belper however still fought and almost caught Kettering napping at the back a couple of times. This seemed to wake Kettering up and they got themselves sorted in defence and some great marking and communication kept us organised. Our 4th goal came half way through the 2nd half. Some fantastic dribbling skills from Jess Moricca opened up Belper's defence. A neat pass from Jess into Meg Forader finished the move brilliantly with Meg flicking the ball past the keeper into the right corner. Kettering were on a high and kept pressing, winning a Penalty Corner in the the last second of the game. The ball again came out to Linzi Webster who passed across the D and Mandy Starmore-Young finished it expertly with a deflection on the right post. A well deserved goal after having a number of chances in the game saved by Belper's Keeper. A great performance by Kettering takes them up to 5th in the league.