Kettering hit rock bottom

This weekend the ladies travelled to Stone hoping to take some much needed points away, only to find themselves coming away with another frustrating loss. This was a game of two halves where Kettering were outdone by their own psychological mind set rather than the skill of the opposition.

Kettering dominated in the first half, seeming to accustom better to the windy conditions and the bouncy pitch, and were creating opportunities around and in the opposition circle. They were unfortunate to go 1-0 down near the end of the half as a lucky bounce left one of their players free to take a shot on goal and score. This wasn't an issue for Kettering to start with as they knew there was another whole half to go.

However, Stone doubled their lead early in the second half as Laura Beacon was tripped by their centre midfield player, but rather than play being stopped for the foul, play continued and the same player carried the ball in to the circle and scored. Once again the expectation that the whistle would have been blown meant players had stopped and she pretty much had a free run before anyone reacted. It was at this point that Kettering were put to the test. Bethany Winfield shone through to earn herself the player of the match vote as her positive mind set tried to rally the team, but it would seem that the side had lost their focus and determination. As the game continued Kettering looked lost and failed to work cohesively as a team to try to get anything from the game. Stone took advantage and continued to push forwards and luckily pulled their shots wide.

As we draw closer to the end of the season, the aim for the team is just to not finish bottom so that they retain their place in this league and can look forward to next year where plans are afoot to work on the ladies section as a whole. With two home games, and the seeming home advantage, the Ladies XI need to pull together to take something positive from these games.