No Sign of Lady Luck

This weekend was Kettering’s last game before the Christmas break and it would seem that Lady Luck was still not going to show her face! With a bit of time to mend and rebuild over the break, the hope is that everything will start to click and performances be rewarded with deserved wins in the second half of the season.

As the game against Tamworth started it was apparent that it was going to be a fairly even contest, although Kettering enjoyed the majority of possession in the first half. Penalty corners were won but didn’t quite hit the mark this week with the Tamworth keeper making some good saves. Movement around the circle was good allowing the forwards to make penetrating runs into the circle. One such movement started by, Player of the Match, Sophie Reynolds could have allowed Cath Irvin a clear shot at goal if not for a dubious umpiring call to halt play. Tamworth’s tactic was very much the crash ball through which did find a few of their players on occasion but Laura Beacon held strong in defence to nullify these attempts. Only on one occasion did the home side hold their breath as the goal opened up to give a Tamworth player a free shot at the open goal, only for her to completely fluff the shot.

Going in 0-0 at half time Kettering felt frustrated that they hadn’t been able to convert their opportunities, and pressure built in the second half as Tamworth changed their positioning to try to deal with the forwards movement that was so good in the first half.

Tamworth went ahead as an absolute screamer of a goal left Goal Keeper Nik Baker in no-mans-land as the ball flew over her head into the top corner. A hit from the top of the D worthy of applause.

As pressure increased for Kettering with umpiring decisions again being a little inconsistent for both sides, frustration started to show and both teams had to be given a warning for back chat during the game.

It was not long after this that Beacon then received a harsh green card for questioning a decision given against her. Kettering coped well for the 2 minute sin bin though and continued to try and press forward. Emma Findlay came close to equalising as a ball from Harriet Goswell found her in front of the keeper but she couldn’t quite get the ball out of her feet for a clean shot. In the last minute of the game there was a shout for a penalty flick, or in the least a penalty corner, when a ball from Jess Clarke found Toni Hustwait who drove into the circle, beating the defender to find Sienna McNeil, who was then ploughed down by the keeper. Unfortunately nothing was given and the game came to an end.

The side are definitely not in the position they want or deserve to be at this point in the season but with the second half of the season to come the side must remain positive that all their hard work will eventually pay off!

A big merry Christmas to everyone, and as our captain would say “eat all the mince pies but go for a jog after”!!