Late goal see's Poppies pegged back

 

Aaron Powell scored his first goal in a Poppies shirt

STAMFORD 1 KETTERING TOWN 1

They say that football can even itself out and that was most certainly the case yesterday for Kettering Town. A week earlier it was The Poppies that had the joy of an injury-time equalizer to earn a point against AFC Telford United. Fast forward seven days and it was our turn to feel the pain Telford felt last week when Stamford scored in the tenth minute of injury time to take a point that in truth they never looked like earning at any point in the game.

There was good numbers made the short trip to the game, I'd say easily 700 poppies made up a seasons best attendance for Stamford of 1237. The match itself wasn't a classic, mainly due to a heavy wind blowing down the pitch. For almost all the match whilst not being spectacular The Poppies were in control of the game and Stamford never looked a threat to Kettering goal except long balls into the box that were well dealt with all afternoon by Johnson, Gudger and Jezeph.

We actually started the game well, New signing Jamar Loza looked lively on the left wing and he earned an assist on his debut as he played in Aaron Powell and as defenders backed off Aaron took the ball forward before hitting a low strike into the net. Fitting reward for The Poppies best player on the afternoon and also his first goal for the club. Wes York and Sam McLintock both had chances to extend the lead but couldn't and as the half-time whistle blew the Poppies went off deservedly in front and looking comfortable. 

The second half saw us playing with the strong wind behind us, unfortunately we decided to play a long ball game and this simply wasn't working as the wind was simply carrying the ball through. Stamford were seeing more of the ball but that was mainly playing simple passes along the back four before going long and like the first half Kettering never looked in any danger. The actual second half was in truth a bit of a non event, well that was until the match entered injury time. 

A very generous looking six minutes were added and the referee (who was poor throughout) found another four minutes from somewhere on top of that. Stamford won a corner in the last of those four minutes and the corner was put over to the back post and headed in with basically their only attempt in the whole game. Video's of the goal from behind the goal since show the goal probably should not have stood for a clear foul on Jezeph, but there was no way a referee as weak as the one in the middle yesterday was going to rule it out.

The game re-started and just seconds later full-time was blown. It was most definitely two points dropped against a very average Stamford side. But you can't complain because as was said the boot was on the other foot last week. The OTT celebrations by the Stamford players and management staff at full-time again just showed we are the big fish in this league and how every team we face it's a cup final to them. I don't think I've seen celebrations for a point quite like the one's Stamford showed at full-time yesterday. Still if they are that happy with a point when really they needed three for their own play-off push then good luck to them.

For us, Myself I thought the title had gone weeks ago and after yesterday I think that's pretty much certain now. We have five games left that on paper we should be winning all five. But form and performances since Christmas doesn't make me feel confident that will happen. But if the title isn't won by us we have to look at second place to allow us to play all play-off games at Latimer Park because in the play-offs you need every advantage possible. 

Full-Time: Stamford 1 Kettering Town 1

Kettering Town Team

1.Dan Jezeph

2.Ben Hart

3.Aaron Powell

4.Devon Kelly-Evans

5.Connor Johnson (c)

6.Alex Gudger

7.Wes York (Sub Kai Fifield)

8.Andi Thanoj (Sub Kyle Storer)

14.Sam McLintock (Sub Luca Miller)

18.Jonny Edwards (Sub Nile Ranger)

20.Jamar Loza (Sub Lewis White)

Bookings: Jezeph, Storer, Hart

Att: 1237

#UTP KTFC Man of The Match: Aaron Powell