No Luck for Kettering Ladies 1s

Kettering were facing a team who were joint on points in the league. It was a game we really wanted to win. However we knew it would be a tough game as we walked onto a very bouncy pitch. The game started well and Kettering seemed to have a lot of possession as the bouncy pitch didn't seem to cause us too much trouble. We were getting the ball into the opposition D but chances on goal were few.

Our defence were playing better compared to last week and we were a lot more organised and we manage to squash Belpers attacks through good marking. However Belper did get a few chances on goal as the speed of their forwards got the better of us on occasion. However our keeper and Player of the Match, Kate Metcalfe, pulled off some great saves to keep the score line 0-0 at half time.

We started the second half as positively as we had started the first half and we kept possession well working the ball up the pitch. Emma Findlay coming very close to scoring but the ball was cleared off the line. Again we were caught out at times by the speed of Belper and they managed to win a penalty corner. Our defending penalty corner team stood up to the pressure though as they defended 4 penalty corners in a row and kept the ball out the goal.

Towards the middle of the 2nd half Belper managed to put the ball in the goal as a high ball caught out the Kettering defence. However it was deemed dangerous and disallowed.

Unfortunately shortly after this a ball deflected up off of a Kettering stick and hit a Belper attacker on the forehead. The game was stopped while she was treated. Unfortunately it was plain to see that the stop in play had unsettled Kettering's rhythm. As the game wore on tiredness started to set in and Belper hit us on the break. One of their forwards managed to get behind the defence to meet a cross on the left post and a goal was scored. This spurred Kettering on though and again we had all the possession and pushed up the pitch. Strong defence by Belper kept the ball out of their goal though and the game finished 1-0.

Kettering were very disappointed as we did not deserve to have lost the game. However we can take some positives from the game as we played a lot better than the week before. With points between teams now being very close in the league Kettering need to start winning some points to keep us well away from the relegation battle.