What should have been the first week of league action saw Kettering in friendly action against an experienced Peterborough 4ths who ironically are next weeks first league opponents.
One a warm afternoon and great pitch it was the hosts who dominated the first twenty minutes of the game as Kettering probably produced their worst part performance of the fledgling season. Peterborough capitalised on this dominance by going ahead through a short corner and a penalty stroke. Kettering worked their way into the game and skipper Grant Carlin reduced arrears from a short corner. Carlin had a good chance to level but from the counter Peterborough broke and reestablished a two goal cushion.
Having tried out a new formation in the first half Kettering continued to adjust to the demands of a new system in the second half but the action was pretty much one way traffic. Kettering laid into their opponents with Ant Paton grabbing a fine goal from the edge of the D and Harry Tanser robbed a defender and worked well with Lewis Pywell to get the visitors level. The same combination were unlucky to denied a winner when Pywell was penalised for a ‘swing and a miss’ that seemed innocuous before Tanser buried the ball in the top corner.
Kettering continued to push forward and get the winner and a solid defensive performance managed to keep Peterborough’s lively forwards largely redundant.
Next week skipper Carlin and coach Andy Sellers will choose from a full squad as league action (hopefully) starts in earnest.