Old boy Harry comes back to haunt Poppies

BANBURY UNITED 1 KETTERING TOWN 0

Poppies push for a late equaliser at Banbury

So it was a relatively short trip to Banbury on Tuesday night as The Poppies looked to build on Saturday's late, late win at Sudbury and gain another three points to get our promotion push back on track. Unfortunately it turned out to be another below par performance from Kettering as ex Poppy Harry Reilly scored a 19th minute goal to send his former employees back home pointless in a game that over all was pretty low on quality from both sides.

For some unknown reason Banbury had taken the decision to make the fixture all ticket for away fans only. Segregation was in place and when we arrived we found out we were housed in the corner section of the Town end as opposed to having the whole Kings Sutton end like on our last visit to the Spencer Stadium.

Team news was in and it appeared that manager Richard Lavery and important midfield man Isiah Noel-Williams had patched up their rumoured fall out that saw Noel-Williams left out of Saturday's squad that travelled to Sudbury as Isiah came back into the staring XI. Captain Connor Johnson returned from suspension, Kai Fifield came in for Wes York and their was a first start for ex Premier league striker Marvin Sordell who was bizarrely played as a holding midfielder. Injury and illness ruled out Devon Kelly-Evans, Andi Thanoj and Callum Powell three players who if fit would walk into every other team in the division.

Banbury had four ex Kettering players in their starting XI. Harry Reilly and Gedeon Okito lined up in the full-back positions, George Forsyth who was a popular player at Latimer Park over his two spells with the Poppies began in midfield and Dan Jarvis who five weeks ago was still a Kettering player began out wide on the left.

The match kicked off and was pretty low on entertainment in fact the best entertainment came from the small group of around ten Banbury fans aged between 14 and 18, who all thought they were Danny Dyer whilst dressed as extra's from Green Street. I can't think of anything less intimidating than a bunch of teenagers shouting nasty things at you from 15 yards away behind two metal fences but there we go.

Then on 19 minutes came the games only real moment of quality and you guessed it a former player provided it. A long throw wasn't cleared effectively by Kettering and the ball dropped to Harry Reilly who struck a low half volley that flew into the bottom corner past a static Dan Jezeph. I don't think Reilly ever showed anything like that quality in his spell at Latimer Park. Originally from my poor view from the away end I had thought it was a miss hit from Reilly. Having seen the replays you have to say it was a fine strike.

In fact he could have had a second goal had Aaron Powell not cleared his shot off the line later in the first half. Other than that there wasn't really anything else in terms of scoring chances. Poppies fizzed a few crosses into the box and Banbury defender Yaw Ofuso blocked well from Fifield. Ofuso was very lucky to still be on the pitch if the truth is told after Noel-Williams broke away and bared down on Banbury keeper Jack Harding, Ofuso cleaned him out and with no covering defenders a red card seemed the only outcome but the referee opted for just a yellow. Connor Johnson picked up his usual booking he gets most games with a firm tackle on Jarvis, that's all it was a hard and firm tackle that didn't really warrant the Banbury players surrounding the ref asking for a red.

At half-time Saturday's goal hero Terell Pennant replaced Tyree Wilson and soon after the re-start Wes York came on for the ineffective Kai Fifield. Jezeph had to be alert to make a good save with his foot so Banbury didn't extend their lead, Poppies had pretty much all the possession second half on a pitch that  was beginning to cut up. But like the first half no real clear cut chances were created, just a few near moments.

The normal time wasting antics began from Banbury, they picked up a couple of booking for it along the way. But all teams do it whilst looking to protect a lead so you can't really complain to much about it even with how frustrating it is when it's against your team.

So the final whistle blew and it was a fourth defeat in the last six games for The Poppies. Defensively we looked solid enough. Bar the goal and the save with his foot Jezeph wasn't really troubled. CJ and Gudger look like they might make a good partnership. Sordell in midfield was simply an experiment that didn't work and going forward we lacked creativity. Jonny Edwards is a quality striker at this level, but he does seem to be short on confidence at the moment, how ever in his defence he's not really been getting he service these past few games that he was previously.

Anyway, we made it back to the car thankfully without bumping into the Danny Dyer clones who had been telling us all game they would "See us outside" you can't imagine the relief they didn't follow through those threats (No really it was very scary, honest.....) and to find out both Telford and Bedford had dropped points. Does anyone actually want to win this league?, Oh well out of form Barwell at Latimer Park on Saturday, what possibly could go wrong?  

Kettering Team: Jezeph, Hart, Powell, Sordell, Johnson, Gudger, Fifield (Sub York), Stohrer (Sub Miller), Edwards (Sub Ranger), Noel-Williams, Wilson (Sub Pennant)

Sub (not used): White

Booking: Johnson

Att: 602 (Roughly 150 from Kettering)

#UTP Man Of The Match: Connor Johnson

 

Ex Poppy Harry Reilly watches as his 19th minute strike finds the next for Banbury's winner