Kettering 3-1 Olton & West Warks

Kettering Ladies XI secured their 100% winning record this weekend away against Olton Ladies, making it 3 league wins in a row. Being a late push back and with the black clouds rolling in the motivation in camp seemed to be lacking but as the game started Olton Ladies fired out of the blocks and woke Kettering up. The home side won a penalty corner within the first few minutes and if not for a champagne worthy moment from Charlie Fowle who cleared a goal-bound ball from the line, the game might have took a different path. However, with this early warning Kettering pushed themselves back into the game and dominated in attack down the right side of the pitch with slick transfers enabling Megan Forader to repeatedly take advantage of her pace down the right wing. One of these such attacks resulted in Kettering winning a penalty corner where the tactics were changed. Mandy Starsmore-Young positioned herself perfectly to allow for Jess Austin’s strike at goal to be missed by the goal keeper. This made this the third goal in three games from a penalty corner strike for Austin. The away side showed excellent skill and despite Kettering being the better side they lapsed in concentration a few times which enabled the away side to counter. If not for solid defensive work from joint player of the match Laura Cave, individual players may well have broken through. Kettering scored their second goal just before half time where fellow player of the match Cath Irvin crossed a ball in for Maria Higgins to touch into the goal despite only having been on the pitch for two minutes.

The second half continued the same as the first finished with Kettering showing excellent play in places and some worrying play in others. It was the away side that scored first however, as a ball from Linzi Webster crossed across the goal for Higgins to secure her second of the game. With a three goal lead Kettering took the foot off the gas slightly and this allowed for Olton to gain a goal when a misplaced pass was picked up and allowed for one of their players to be put through onto goal with no pressure. She neatly tucked the ball away and this was again a wake up call for the away side. Kettering finished the game piling the pressure forward on the younger side and could potentially have added another few goals to their tally. Whilst a positive win for the side they left the game having learnt a valuable lesson in that games are very much in their hands to win and to lose.