Kettering unable to slay Dragons

Despite putting in their best performance for a few weeks, the KM1s couldn’t slay a solid Dragons side, who proved too clinical for the home team.

Some standard end-to-end stuff passed a good portion of time, with a couple of chances being missed by both sides. Midway through the half, Paul Donnelly was barged over defending the ‘D’ – Kettering ball. Not happy that there wasn’t any further punishment for his assailant, he grumbled in ever-increasing volume at the umpire. He wasn’t having any of it. Decision overturned. Norwich short-corner. It almost goes without saying that Norwich scored after the first shot was rebounded. 0 – 1. Donnelly took himself off to calm down. Rightly so. It seemed that the away team were happy with that, as their centre backs began to play the ball to each-other. Kettering pressed gently, waiting for the inevitable mistake. It soon came. A high-pitched wail of ‘oh no!’ came from a Dragons centre-back as he passed it straight to the Kettering midfield. Almost immediately, Lewis Pywell had worked his magic around the ‘D’ and Harry Tanser had finished the movement by slotting the ball past the Norwich keeper. 1 – 1. That was more like it. An excellent goal – a product of patience. Before the half was through, Norwich had crept ahead once more, proving that clinical finishing is what wins games in the end…

So, the second half began with Kettering 2 – 1 down. But no matter – Kettering had come from behind to beat the same team last season. Giving away a lot of short-corners made life difficult for the Kettering defence, but one at the other end saw Donnelly tap in a raised rebound. 2 – 2! He’d redeemed himself! The game then became incredibly tight. But then a ball found its way to Jacques Lourens, stalking the top of the Norwich ‘D’ like an animal of his homeland. One-on-one with the goalie, a Kettering player was overheard saying ‘if I could have picked anyone to have that chance, it would’ve been Jacques’, in the bar afterwards. He floored the keeper. The net was gaping, wide-open, empty. And he topped the ball like someone who’d never played before. The golden chance sauntered wide. Instead, it was Norwich who took the 3 – 2 lead, after another rebound fell to a striker. Kettering were pressured from then on and were not really allowed to get back into the match. The final whistle blew. It was nice to come of the pitch not feeling dreadful in defeat, knowing that every player had put in a good performance that would have blown away many other teams like Hoggy blowing out his 16th birthday candles. But the current lack of points is frustrating. Next week will hopefully see three points on the board!

MoM: Matthew Coe

DoD: Jacques Lourens (for an obvious reason)