It all comes down to Saturday......

 

Will the Poppies faithful be celebrating a championship win on Saturday?

At 5pm on Saturday Kettering Town will either be champions of the Southern League Premier Division Central or will be in the lottery that is the end of season play-offs. Let's be honest the odds of The Poppies winning the title are low, first we have to beat a Banbury United side that not only have the best defensive record in the division but also have a number of former Poppies players in their squad that will no doubt want to get one over their former club. Then secondly we have to hope Bedford Town do something that they have not done since February 4th and lose a game. The Eagles are at home to 9th placed Stourbridge who themselves are in good form having lost only once in their last nine games.

So whilst the chances are a league title looks a long shot it is still mathematically achievable and there will be far more pressure on Bedford to win their game than Kettering to win ours. Anything is possible in football, just look back at the 2001/02 season when Tamworth were in the driving seat for the title and like on Saturday it went down to the final game of the season, Kettering won at Tiverton and Tamworth slipped up at Folkstone and the rest is now history.

The season as a whole has been one of many ups and downs. Before Christmas The Poppies were beating teams almost at ease and sat at the top of the table and it did look like a case of not if but when the title would be won. But in the first nine games of 2025 The Poppies picked up just three wins and that allowed others to take advantage. Whilst there has only been one defeat in the last 11 games the four draws in that run of fixtures will probably be what see's the title heading to Bedford and not Latimer Park.

What if the referee had not played Five minutes over the original six minutes at Stamford that saw them equalize with almost the last kick (well head) of the game. But on the other side of the coin what if we hadn't scored a 93rd minute goal against Telford or scored twice in the 90th minute against Hitchin. All if's, but's and maybe's now but I myself can't help thinking we have kind of thrown the title, that's been in our own hands for large parts of the season away. 

Saying that, It's been a season that has been a million times more enjoyable than the disaster last season when a second relegation looked a real possibility. There has been some up's and down's with Lavs over the season, some odd decisions but also some very brave one's and overall I think he's done a decent job this season. 

So If it's a league title at 5pm on Saturday then lets party and celebrate. But if it's a play-off place then let's stick with the lads as they will need us more than ever. We can't be away in any play-off fixtures so we have to play our part on the Latimer Park terraces to help the lads do their part on the pitch.

UP THE POPPIES!!