Kettering Town v St Ives Town

Pitching in Southern League Premier Division Central

Saturday 8^th March 2025   15:00pm

Referee:  Gareth Davis        Assistants:  Gary Lord and Daniel Ghent

After a come from behind win against on Tuesday against Alvechurch, Kettering would be looking to complete a hat trick of wins for the season against St Ives after beating them twice in Cambridgeshire in the league and the FA Cup. With Bedford not playing today, a win today would take Kettering back to the top of the table. St Ives would not be a push over having drawn their last five games and currently sit in 14^th place in the table.

One player that would be missing probably for the rest of the season would be Devon Kelly-Evans who damaged his hamstring against Alvechurch to join Callum Powell, nursing a hairline leg fracture, on the long-term injury list. Both Terell Pennant and Tyree Wilson who started on Tuesday were not selected for the starting XI due to them both taking a knock in that game with Tyree’s being serious to miss this game but Terell was considered viable for a spot on the sub’s bench. Those injuries meant starts for Sam McLintock, Kyle Storer and Kai Fifield. Richard Lavery could only name a bench of four substitutes with Jonny Edwards being fit enough to return to action if needed against his former club having recovered sufficiently from his hip injury. Edmund Hotter was a former Poppy lining up for the visitors.

It was a beautiful sunny day at Latimer Park with a cooling breeze blowing from the Tin Hat end of negligible strength at pitch level but above height it was significantly stronger. After a few warm dry days, the pitch looked in good condition despite the U18’s playing on it on Thursday evening where they enjoyed a County Cup win over Corby Town.

  Kettering kicked off once again, attacking the Tin Hat end instigating the mass of home supporters to switch ends. St Ives Town were decked out in an all-orange strip. Kettering conceded a free kick inside the first minute deep in the St Ives half but goalkeeper Wilks kick went straight to a Kettering player who fed the ball forward to Noel-Williams who carried the ball forward. Collard tried to slow Isiah down by grabbing at him but he was shrugged off by the Kettering man as the referee waved play on playing the advantage. The run resulted in a corner on the stand side. Storer took the set piece but it refused to fall for a Kettering player in the penalty area and the ball was cleared by St Ives who were looking to hit Kettering on the counterattack. However, a good covering tackle by Hart halted the move.

 St Ives Town responded a minute later with a shot from distance but it went well wide. The resulting goal kick was challenged for in the air between Collard and Noel-Williams with the St Ives captain going to the floor resulting in a free kick and a brief stoppage. After seven minutes St Ives had another shot from distance, this time from Glennon, but it drifted wide of the post.

 Ten minutes had been played when St Ives won a corner on the stand side when Mensah coming forward played the ball off Hard to go behind. It was an unusual corner going high up into the air but did not come to a playable height until it had gone beyond the far post where it bounced behind untouched for a goal kick.

 Just before the quarter hour mark a ball from inside Kettering’s half was lifted into St Ives half. It was challenged for in the air between Glennon and Noel-Williams with the St Ives man winning the contest but as Glennon twisted his neck to generate some power into the header he struck the head of Isiah. Going to the floor with a head injury there was a brief stoppage as he received treatment. When Mr Davis inquired after his condition Glennon gestured with his elbow insinuating that Isiah had struck him with an elbow, which if he had, would have meant that Isiah’s elbow would have been up near his ear, something that would have been obvious to the referee and his assistant who were both less than 20 yards from the incident.

 Twenty-three minutes had been played when Kettering probed down the stand side. Hart took the ball down to the corner flag and delivered a good cross into the middle however Abimbola just got his head to the ball first and headed it clear. A minute later the action was at the Prosaw stand end when a ball played into the middle by Munday came off Johnson for a corner on the stand side. The corner was delivered to the far post where it was not dealt with by the defence after Jezeph had failed to cut the ball out. The ball was struck the post and bounced back into play before Mr Davis blew for a penalty for an offence which only he saw as no St Ives player appealed for a penalty. Glennon took the kick and sent Jezeph the wrong way. 0-1 St Ives Town 25 mins

 Kettering responded well and from the restart drove into St Ives half towards York. Wes put the ball into the middle where it was headed clear but only as far as Noel-Williams who returned the ball to York. This time Wes played a low ball into the box to the feet of McLintock. Sam swivelled  and had a snapshot but sent the ball over the bar.

 On the half hour mark Kettering were awarded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area when York was fouled by Glennon. The kick was wasted though going out for a goal kick. St Ives broke down Kettering’s right with Mensah picking out Allen. Allen jinked forward going past a defender before delivering a tantalising ball towards the near post. Somehow no-one got a touch on the ball from either side and the ball emerged the opposite side of the goal mouth before being cleared.

 Thirty-seven minutes had been played before the game got it is first booking. Kettering were moving forward through Thanoj and was deep inside the visitor’s half when he was pulled back by Allen conceding a free kick in a dangerous area a couple of yards outside of the penalty area. As on Tuesday night Kettering failed to take advantage of a promising position. Five minutes later Mr Davis needed to take his notebook again to add William’s name to that of Allen. The defender after fouling York compounded his offence by belting the ball away as far as possible. A yellow card followed but it is debatable if it was for the foul or for the kicking of the ball away. Once again, the resulting free kick came to nothing.

With half time fast approaching, Fifield chased a seemingly hopeless case of a ball played long down the stand side but Kai showed his pace and retrieved the ball but having outstripped his support did well enough to win a corner. Storer’s delivery was poor and St Ives cleared the ball.

As regulation time expired Mensah broke down Kettering’s right and squared the ball picking out Hotter in the middle of the park. Edmund tried a first shot which ended up by the Academy building sailing well wide.

Three additional minutes would be played before the half time whistle due to stoppages for treatment to St Ives players.

  Half Time: Kettering Town  0  St Ives Town  1

Neither side made any substitutions at half time with Ricky Marheineke no doubt content with his team’s performance.

With the inspirational words of encouragement, no doubt still ringing in the ears of Richard Lavery’s players, Kettering started the second half with purpose. Three minutes had been played of the second half when the ball was played down the stand side for Noel-Williams to run onto. Isiah caught the ball short of the byline and from there sent a low cross into the penalty area where Fifield darted in front of the defender and turned the ball in from close range. 1-1 Kettering 48 mins

Kettering had needed to get back on terms early and the team had done just as required. Two minutes later, there was another foul on Noel-Williams which this time the referee gave a free kick. The set piece was flicked on by Johnson’s head but straight into the arms of the keeper. Kettering were looking for more and were passing the ball with confidence starting to build pressure on the St Ives defence now with the wind in their faces.

After fifty-four minutes, another string of passes ended with Powell on the stand side. Aaron squared the ball inside where Hart was in space. Ben tried an ambitious shot with his weaker left foot but scuffed his shot sending it wide of the post.

Four minutes later, Kettering won the first corner of the second half after York worked his way forward down the left wing taking on Williams, who opted to concede a corner. Storer sent the ball into the middle where the goalkeeper punched the ball away under little pressure but Mr Davis again saw things differently to the majority of people inside Latimer Park and awarded a free kick to Wilks. The keeper took an age over restarting the game, long enough to incur the displeasure of the referee who booked him for time wasting.

Two minutes later, Kettering won another corner when Glennon with Noel-Williams in close attendance headed a wind assisted ball from deep for another corner. Before the kick could be taken, Mr Davis had to hold up play to stop the pushing and shoving occurring in the goal mouth and as so often happens, when the kick was finally taken awards a free kick to the goalkeeper. Wilks’ kick went straight to York who lifted the forward towards Noel-Williams who was being marked by Glennon. Isiah had got past the defender who resorted to fouling the Kettering man in order to stop him. Mr Davis saw the incident and awarded a penalty. Glennon was arguing his case in an attempt to get the referee to reverse his decision. Isiah had placed the ball on the spot and Glennon bent down and moved the ball a matter of inches before going to the floor just about on the penalty spot, supposedly injured having spent the previous minute berating the referee. Mr Davis called the St Ives trainer on when he should have booked Glennon for either a) the foul as denying a goal scoring opportunity b) dissent for arguing about the decision or c) simulation of being injured to delay the taking of the penalty. During his treatment, his teammates showed their sporting nature in trying to scuff up the penalty spot with Storer trying to prevent it. It was a full three minutes before Glennon was back on his feet and making his way to the touchline an intervention from the linesman sent him off the pitch by the goal to make his way around the pitch rather than a tortuous time-consuming walk across the pitch. The delay and mind games by St Ives did not affect Noel-Williams and even though Wilks dived the correct way Isiah kick was so well placed as to nestle in the side netting. 2-1 Kettering 65 mins

With twenty minutes to go, Jezeph went down inside his on-penalty area with no player near him. St Ives took advantage of the break in play to make a double substitution replacing Hotter and Allen with Sidney Pereira and Johnson Gymafi. Two minutes later, Kettering made a swap with Jonny Edwards replacing Sam McLintock.

 With just under fifteen minutes of regulation time left, Amir Hadi went down with a head injury and required treatment during which St Ives made another swap with Mensah departing to be replaced by Aaron Smith. Hadi regained his feet but was unable to continue and was replaced by Ethan Creary.

On the restart, the recently arrived substitute Smith hurled a long throw into the Kettering penalty area which failed to be dealt with by the Kettering defence. The ball was partially header away as Johnson was pushed to the floor. Gymafi returned the ball back into the middle where Glennon tucked it away with his head for his second goal of the day. 2-2 St Ives Town 80 mins

With just over five minutes left of normal time, Hart was too casual in possession on the halfway line with nobody but Jezeph behind him. Rather than playing safely and clearing the ball he attempted to deceive Pereira but the visitor got the better of Ben who rescued the situation by pulling the forward back. It would be an expensive caution as it will cause him to miss the next two games at Lowestoft and Alvechurch through suspension. Shortly after, Kettering won a corner on the stand side after good approach work by Noel-Williams. Storer’s delivered the ball into the middle where Gudger sent a glancing header towards the far post but Johnson positioned there was not expecting it and it hit his thigh and went wide of the post. Before the restart, Kettering made their second substitution withdrawing the tiring Fifield, who has only just returned from injury with Terell Pennant.

After the regulation ninety minutes, there would be an additional seven minutes played due to the many stoppages due to players requiring treatment. Inside the first of those Mr Davis made another decision to upset the home fans. Another long throw on the stand side from Smith was tossed deep into the Kettering penalty area. Gudger headed the ball up into the air but it bounced towards the byline. Johnson went over to try and keep the ball in with a St Ives player in close proximity. The Assistant Referee indicated a goal kick but the referee overruled him changing it to a corner on the stand side. The corner was lifted into the middle of the goalmouth where it passed over the head of the lofty Munday. Jezeph chose not to come for the ball but remained on his line as the ball dropped to bounce just in front of Johnson who missed an opportunity to clear the ball. The ball rebounded off a St Ives player back towards the middle where Munday reacted quickest to turn the ball home from a couple of yards out. 2-3 St Ives Town 90+1 mins

Kettering threw men forward in an attempt to claw something from the match and with five minutes played of the seven a kick from hand from Jezeph assisted by the wind was sent long down the middle of the pitch. Johnson challenged for the ball and was adjudged to be fouled giving the host’s a free kick in a central position a couple of yards outside the “D” of the penalty area. Storer took the kick but it struck the face of the bar with a crash and bounced back into the crowded penalty area where a free kick was awarded to St Ives. Kettering had one final chance when they won a corner on the open side but unfortunately it came to nothing along with Kettering’s chances of getting anything from the game.

   Full Time: Kettering Town  2  St Ives Town  3

With ten minutes to go this synopsis could have been a cut and paste from the last match report “A  come from behind win to keep Kettering’s title hopes alive. After a disappointing first half, conceding an early goal Kettering showed promise but did not test the opponent’s keeper. The half time team talk obviously did the trick with a much improved second half performance.”  Alas, the team surrendered a winning position allowing St Ives to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. With the experienced players in the team there really is no excuse for the meek surrender shown at the end of this game. The defence which was so strong against Halesowen and Leiston showed as much resilience as a damp tissue. In truth it should have not come to that as forward line squandered numerous opportunities from free kicks around the penalty area and from corners, much like Tuesday’s game. This game is the latest in a string of matches where valuable points have been lost in the dying embers of the match joining the home games against Harborough, Bedford and away at Spalding. All is not lost though as Kettering’s fate is still in their own hands but with two of the three games in hand played and the team still trailing Bedford the time for slip-ups and bad days at the office have to be eliminated from the performances or else a season with much expectation and  confidence will crumble into a season of what could have been.

Kettering Town yellow cards:  Hart – foul                                           

St Ives Town yellow cards:  Allen – foul    Williams – kicking ball away  Wilks – time wasting                               

Attendance: 1169

Kettering Town Man-of-the-Match chosen by the Blanchard family – Isiah Noel-Williams –  With a goal and an assist Isiah had produced a match winning performance at the time the man of the match was announced  yet before the final whistle he would end up on the losing side. That could not take away from Isiah’s performance though who once again looked head and shoulders above the other players in the team. Once again though he was singled out for being continually fouled during the game with the referee doing very little to protect him and being willing to penalise him at the slightest excuse.