Match Report KTFC v Harborough Town FC 26 August 2024

Kettering Town v Harborough Town

Pitching in Southern League Premier Division Central

Monday 26th August 2024   3:00pm

Referee:  Lewis Mountain     Assistants:  James Strumidlo and Brendon Jones

Kettering would be looking to consolidate their promising start to the season with their first ever competitive game against league new boys Harborough Town, who won promotion through the play-offs from the Northern Premier League Midland division. The two teams have previously met in friendlies but this time points would be on the line. Richard Lavery was forced to make one change from the team who had produced a positive 3-0 win on the road at Hitchin. The only change was a starting spot for Harlain Mbayo replacing Sidik Atcha, who limped of on the hour mark at Hitchin to be replaced by Harlain. Dan Jarvis and Luca Miller retained their places after both producing good performances and sharing the goals between them in Hertfordshire. However, this may have been out of necessity rather than a tactical consideration with both Andi Thanoj and Tyree Wilson carrying injuries and along with Sidik likely to only be considered in dire emergencies. It does point to a wafer-thin squad and coupled with possibly a long-term absence for Huw Dawson, additional players might need to be added to the squad.

As with the previous two home games ex-Poppies featured in the opposition’s colours. Former assistant manager Mitch Austin manages the Bees. Former Kettering captain Connor Kennedy and Ben Stephens would start with Gary Mulligan on the Harborough bench.

With rain on Friday night and Saturday morning, the pitch still looked in need of water but with less yellowing areas, the playing surface would still be firm and produce a fast field. A pleasant, warm afternoon considering that it was a Bank Holiday with the sun making occasion appearances from behind scattered cloud. A steady breeze was blowing a right angle from the clubhouse side meaning any high balls played down the open side would tend to drift out of play.

Kick-off was delayed by ten minutes to allow for the large crowd to enter the ground. Harborough in all yellow won the toss and elected to change ends causing Kettering to kick-off attacking the Prosaw stand. Kettering started brightly attacking from the off. However, after only two minutes play was halted after Noel-Williams and Robinson contested a ball in the air close to the halfway line which resulted in the Harborough player going to the floor clutching his head. The Harborough players all pointed at Isiah and tried to pressurise the referee into showing a card, preferably red but Mr Mountain considered the awarding of a free-kick sufficient punishment.

Kettering had the first attempt at goal of the game after five minutes, but Miller’s shot drifted wide of the post. Fifield was having some success attacking down the right wing. One such attack broke down and Harborough quickly switched play to the other end with Rose running onto the ball and delivering a dangerous low cross into the middle. There appeared to be a breakdown in communication between Jezeph and Powell as the Peterborough loanee stepped in front of the keeper to put the ball behind for a corner to prevent the lurking Tonge capitalising. The set piece came to nothing.

Following a foul on Hart, Kettering were awarded a free kick on ten minutes just inside the Harborough half and Kettering sent the big men forward. The free kick was spread wide to Jarvis on the left but the ball back into the middle was cleared by Harborough and a foot race ensued between Tonge and Miller chasing after the ball down the stand side. Tonge edged out Miller and squared the ball inside. Stephens in the centre with Rose further to his left stepped over the ball to allow it to reach the open player but the ruse did not fool Kelly-Evans who intercepted and brought the ball away.

On the quarter hour mark Harborough won a corner and Walsh’s delivery was met by Kennedy, but his header went wide of the post.

After twenty-three minutes the yellow card made it’s first appearance of the afternoon. A ball was played through to York who evaded his marker and was ready to break into the penalty area in space before he was brought down from behind by Morris on the edge of the penalty area. The Kettering fans wanted a red for the denial of a goal scoring opportunity. However, the referee considered that a Harborough defender level with Wes, all be it 5 or 6 yards away, meant that Morris was not the last man. The free kick was partially cleared but only to Fifield on the edge of the box who cut inside to lose off a firm shot but too close to the keeper, Taylor, who made a routine save.

Five minutes later Miller spread a great ball out to the wing straight to the feet of Fifield. Kai jinked his way past Sandhu creating space for a shot which deflected off a defender for a corner. The corner was not adequately dealt with by the defence and the ball broke to Fifield who squared the ball to Devon Kelly-Evans who saw his low drive pass narrowly past the post. Kettering kept up the pressure and Harborough were clinging on leading to another booking, this time for Robinson for a trip on Noel-Williams after Isiah had gone past him. Jarvis lifted the resulting free-kick towards Johnson whose flicked header came off a defender for a corner, which led to another header from Johnson with this one going straight out for a goal-kick.

This was Kettering’s best spell in the match with Harborough being given a brief respite with ten minutes left in the half when after a rare Harborough foray forward, Mbayo needed treatment after an ariel challenge left him on the floor with the Harborough forward landing on top of him.

Kettering won another corner with just over five minutes left in the half when a Powell centre was put behind. Jarvis’ corner was played towards the far post where once again it was not effectively cleared by the defence allowing Devon Kelly-Evans to send the ball back into the middle of the penalty area where Johnson just about on the penalty spot pivoted his body to hit a waist high volley with power giving Taylor no chance to stop the shot.1-0 Kettering 39 mins

Kettering pushed hard in the remaining time winning a corner when a York shot was blocked behind which came to nothing. Another Harborough booking occurred when Sandhu cut down Miller just on the angle of the penalty area, but Mitch Austin must have been relieved to hear the half-time whistle after an additional two minutes of play.

Half Time: Kettering Town 1  Harborough Town 0

Harborough made one substitution at half time with Sandhu, who had been having a torrid time trying to keep Fifield in check, was replaced by Tendai Daire. Walsh moved to left back with Daire playing up front.

Three minutes into the half and Kettering were awarded a free kick right of centre about twenty-five yards out when once again Miller was brought down this time by Kennedy, but Jarvis could not keep his shot down sending it over the Tin Hat.

With a quarter of an hour gone in the second half Kettering strung a few passes together feeding the ball out to Jarvis now on the right wing. Dan hit a looping cross aimed towards the far post where York got his head to the ball but was unable to direct the header or generate any power and the ball went straight into the gloves of the grateful Taylor at point blank range.

Shortly after Daire joined the growing list of Harborough players in the book following another foul on Miller scythed down from behind for a pointless challenge halfway inside Kettering’s half. Jezeph lifted the ball downfield the ball ended up with Fifield who took on Williams forcing the defender into conceding a corner. The set-piece on the open side was taken short and the ball was fed to Mbayo inside the penalty area, but Harlain’s shot was blocked by a defender for another corner. The corner was cleared and led to the first Kettering player being booked as Johnson was penalised for an innocuous push in the back close to the halfway line. The free kick was lifted forward by Harborough and poor defending by Kettering led to a Harborough corner which was dealt with much more efficiently.

On the hour mark Kettering won a corner on the open side. It was taken short, thus negating Harborough’s height advantage. The ball was played to Miller who tumbled to the deck after appearing to be pushed in the back, but the referee saw no offence and play continued with Harborough making a quick counterattack. The attack faltered with an inaccurate pass allowing Powell to intercept and initiate another Kettering advance which led to a shot from York which went well wide.

Harborough made their second change after sixty-four minutes with Robinson being replaced by Inman and two minutes after that their third with Forbes coming on for Rose.

The game was beginning to deteriorate with Harborough looking to play the long ball forward, but Kettering’s defence was coping with any threat. The players were starting to look less energetic playing for most of them their second game in three days under a warm sun. Harborough were trying to energise their side by introducing fresh legs. Kettering held off until the seventy-second minute before what would turn out to be their only change of the game with Campbell replacing Jarvis. Campbell adopted a central position with Wes York moving out to the right. Kettering’s high tempo game had taken its toll on their players and the lack of substitutions indicative of the fitness levels of those on the bench.

Harborough made another substitution with eight regulation minutes to go which saw Burgess replacing Cooper. Kettering were looking solid at the back as Harborough were making the more attacking motions. Campbell was pressing up front but was unable to make any impression on the two tall Harborough centre backs in ariel challenges.

With just over five minutes to go, Harborough won a corner when Johnson attempted to intercept a ball forward by Harborough. He managed to stop the through ball but at the expense of a corner. All Harborough’s big players came forward to crowd the box aware that time was ebbing away, and chances would be limited. The kick was defended by Kettering and Devon Kelly-Evans picked up possession just outside of the box but in playing the ball was outpaced by the fresh legs of Forbes earning Harborough a free-kick in a central position some twenty yards out and Devon a yellow card. Stephens stepped up to take the kick and sent a curling right foot shot up and over the wall but Jezeph, despite having little to do most of the game, rose to tip the ball over the bar. The resulting corner was punched clear by Jezeph commanding a crowded goal area.

With the game entering the final minute of normal time Burgess tried to push the ball through into the penalty area where in the eyes of the referee it struck Kelly-Evans’s hand/arm. Mr Fountain shocked everyone by without hesitation awarding a penalty. No Harborough player had appealed and there were doubts if it was even in the penalty area not withstanding consideration as to the close proximity of the kicker to the defender or if the arm was in an unnatural position. The referee has previous with Kettering sending Lewis White off at Redditch last season for an offence nobody else, but he saw. As time clicked over the ninety-minute mark Daire comprehensively sent Jezeph the wrong way. 1-1 Harborough 89 mins

As Kettering lined up for the restart it was announced that there would be an additional five minutes played. Harborough were content with a point and slowed the game down as much as possible but did not spurn any chance to move forward when a low-risk option presented itself. Deep into injury time a chance presented itself to Stephens, but the former Poppy scooped his shot narrowly over the bar when one would have expected him to at least test Jezeph. It was his last involvement in the game as in order to run more time off the clock he was replaced by Mulligan.

After the final whistle Mbayo queried the referee’s decision over the penalty and was booked for dissent.

Full Time: Kettering Town 1  Harborough Town 1

A disappointing result overall as Kettering’s defence experienced little threat from the Harborough attack. Jezeph was largely a spectator only producing his first real save in the final five minutes from Stephen’s fee-kick only for the visitors to be gifted a route back into the game by the referee. Kettering were hampered by a weak bench with three players of questionable fitness chosen due to a lack of any other options. Coming two days after the win at Hitchin, some of the players at the end appeared to be running on fumes as opposed to Harborough who were able to introduce fresh legs to keep the energy levels high. Kettering applied plenty of pressure in the first half but failed to get that crucial second goal and to reach that standard of play in the second half. Hopefully, the large Bank Holiday crowd will keep the faith with the Poppies and a good majority of them will return this Saturday as Kettering commence their FA Cup campaign.

Kettering Town yellow cards: Johnson, Kelly-Evans – fouls Mbayo – dissent 

Harborough Town yellow cards: Morris, Robinson, Sandhu, Daire – fouls

Attendance: 1596

Kettering Town Man-of-the-Match – Chosen by Ben Mastrangelo – Devon Kelly-Evans

Another fine display by Devon who has set a maintained a high level of performance of the season so far. His tireless running, whilst having the time to pick a pass rather than a mindless hoof, shows him to be a valuable player. With Andi Thanoj missing the last two games, Devon has had to lead a very young midfield alongside Luca and Isiah who can only learn from his application and commitment. He is very much a tigerish midfielder who will not be intimidated by larger opponents who seek to dominate him physically. The only downside is his yellow card which I believe is his fourth of the season. The side will miss his energy and determination when and if he serves a suspension.