Match Report KTFC vs Bromsgrove Sporting 25 Jan 2025

Kettering Town v Bromsgrove Sporting

Pitching in Southern League Premier Division Central

Saturday 25th January 2025   3:00pm

Kettering TownBromsgrove Sporting
1 Dan Jezeph 1 Charlie Price 
2 Ben Hart 13 Askum White 
6 Declan Towers 5 Aaron Roberts  
12 Lewis White 6 Ashley Carter 
3 Aaron Powell 8 Luke Rowe   (Capt)    
4 Devon Kelly-Evans  (Capt) 9 Jaime Soule             Off 58
16 Isiah Noel-Williams Off 7610 Theo Robinson 
8 Andy Thanoj Off 6611 Jamie Meddows 
7 Wes York Off 4615 Jack Newell Off 76
18 Jonny Edwards Off 4617 Carter Lycett 
9 Nile Ranger    
      
 Substitutes  Substitutes 
10 Terell Pennant On 467 Billy Shaw On 58
11 Tyree Wilson On 4612 Darryl Knights 
15 Gary Stohrer On 6616 Ethan Patterson On 85
17 Luca Miller 18 Jordan Lyden 
19 Kai Fifield On 76   On 75

Referee: Sam Wesson           Assistants: Eduards Lacis and Tom Taylor

The winter weather finally abated with storm Eowyn missing the Midlands and with the overnight temperature not dropping low enough to warrant the need of an early pitch inspection Latimer Park would see Saturday afternoon action for the first  time since Boxing Day’s win over Biggleswade Town. The team would be looking for an improved outcome to the match as the preceding three away games have seen a return of but a single point whilst conceding eight goals. Bromsgrove Sporting would come to Northamptonshire full of confidence, as apart from an unexpected home defeat to Leiston last weekend, they had won five and drew two of their previous eight league games.

Richard Lavery’s team would be bolstered by the timely arrival of Declan Towers returning to the club after a lengthy lay-off due to injury. This was offset by the absence of Connor Johnson serving the first match of a two-game suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards, the latest of which from last Saturday’s game at Redditch. Connor’s crime was to question the referee about his decision to halt the game with Kettering in possession inside the host’s penalty area for an injured player deep inside the opposite half of the pitch for a leg injury, and not a head injury.  Callum Powell would miss the game through injury but Kai Fifield forced to pull out of the Redditch game due to a knock picked up in pre-match warm-up was able to take a position on the bench due to the return of Wes York. New signing Terell Pennant, after replacing Callum at Redditch, if he was to make his home debut, would be by being introduced from the substitutes bench. The staring line up featured the pairing of Edwards and Ranger as a front two. Gary Stohrer, Luca Miller and Tyree Wilson completed the substitutes with no place for Harlain Mbayo who gave a good performance in mid-week in the County Cup match.

The afternoon was on the cool side but thankfully little wind. The pitch looked tired but firm with still quite a lot of grass present. On Tuesday’s nights game the pitch was fine but with rain forecast during the week Ian Hopewell’s pitch preparation had to be carried out with one eye on the predicted weather conditions, but he had produced a perfectly playable surface.

Bromsgrove Sporting, in green and white striped shirts with white shorts, kicked off defending the Tin Hat and were quickly on the attack and inside the first minute worked the ball down the stand side before picking out Meddows inside the penalty area. The Bromsgrove man was forced wide and his attempted cross back into the middle went over the bar. Two minutes later, the visitors were on the attack again this time setting up Lycett on the edge of the box whose fierce shot forced Jezeph into making a good save low on his right-hand post pushing the ball behind for an early corner.

The set piece was defended well by Kettering but the cleared ball came almost straight back but this time down Kettering’s left flank. A clever ball forward was run onto by Soule who looped a cross into the middle where it was met by the head of Rowe. His goal bound effort was tipped over by the alert Jezeph for another Bromsgrove corner on the stand side. Lycett’s corner from the stand side was eventually cleared by the defence, but Bromsgrove came straight back at them and a ball into the penalty area came off Hart for Bromsgrove’s third corner inside the first five minutes. The corner on the stand side was, this time, taken by Meddows, but only short to Lycett, who delivered a cross into the box from a slightly different angle. This was not dealt with cleanly by the defence, but the ball was finally shielded out by White, under pressure from King, for a goal kick.

Kettering appeared to have weathered the initial storm with the defence starting to solidify, but  having stopped Bromsgrove going forward, failed to clear the ball out of defence to a red shirt being unable to string any passes together. Fifteen minutes had passed before Kettering managed to get a meaningful ball into the Bromsgrove penalty area. A probe down the visitor’s right led to a throw-in on the open side taken by York to Ranger. Nile returned the ball to Wes who lifted a cross into the penalty area but Charlie Price rose with confidence and cleanly caught the ball. A minute later a carbon copy move was enacted but with the same end result, the ball nestling safely in Price’s gloves.

The game produced it’s first caution of the afternoon just after the quarter hour mark as Kettering were moving up the middle of the park with the ball being played on the ground to Noel-Williams just inside the centre circle, he turned and was looking to advance towards the Bromsgrove goal when he was caught late with a studs up tackle by Aaron Roberts. It left Isiah in some pain and requiring treatment. It was a nailed on yellow and possibly a red but no doubt Mr Wesson considered it too early to consider such a sanction. To the disgust of the home fans, despite the fact that a yellow card had been shown, the referee insisted that Noel-Williams leave the field and not participate in the resulting free kick, which came to nothing.

Twenty-four minutes had been played when Bromsgrove were awarded a free kick some ten yards inside Kettering’s half on the stand side. The kick was taken quickly lifting the ball down the wing towards Meddows who covered by White and Hart turned the ball back to Lycett. Lycett had to retreat slightly to collect the ball but then played a fine 1-2 with Meddows advancing towards the by-line. He skirted Hart and sent a measured looping ball towards the far post where King, timing his darting run to perfection, arrived at speed to power in a forceful header from a couple of yards. 0-1 Bromsgrove Sporting 24 mins.

Kettering responded by coming forward with Hart providing a deep cross into the box towards the far post. It was slightly overhit though as when it arrived at York it was at about waist height meaning that the best that Wes could do was knock the ball up into the air again aiming for the centre of the goal, but once again Price rose well to claim possession of the ball. Price bowled the ball out to Lycett who passed the ball deep into Kettering territory aimed at Robinson. Robinson let the ball pass through his legs to Soule who played a 1-2 with Meddows to leave the forward, making his debut for Bromsgrove, clear through with just Jezeph to beat who he calmly lifted the ball over. 0-2 Bromsgrove Sporting 26 mins.

Kettering moved forward on the restart and won a free kick on the open side just on the corner of the penalty area following a push in the back of Ranger. Hart aimed the set piece towards the far post but it was headed clear by King. It was collected by Thanoj who tapped it back to Kelly-Evans. Devon threaded a ball on the ground down the wing for Noel-Williams to race out of the middle of the penalty area to collect. He shrugged of the challenge of Lycett near to the corner flag and ran into the Penalty area parallel to the by-line. He breezed past Robinson reluctant to offer a challenge fearing conceding a penalty before Newell blocked a low driven ball behind for a corner. Hart’s corner from the stand side was fractionally too high for White but fell to the feet of Ranger who saw his shot blocked on the line by Roberts. The rebound fell to Nile who touched the ball to Towers whose shot was also blocked and the ball was cleared by Bromsgrove.

With under ten minutes left in the half, a promising Kettering attack was broken up by yet another foul by Meddows this time on Kelly-Evans. None of the fouls contained malice, but were enough to disrupt play and break up the game and a talking to was deserved if only for the case of persistent foul play. The free kick was lifted into the penalty area but was headed away by a defender falling to Thanoj who attempted a shot from distance but it was blocked on the edge of the penalty area and rolled on through to Price.

Shortly after, Kettering were attempting to build from the back, but Powell hit a wayward pass and sent the ball straight to Meddows. Meddows found himself up against Kelly-Evans but managed to twist past him, but Powell was quickly on the scene and resorted to pulling back the forward midway inside Kettering’s half to prevent him breaking clear to go 1v1 against Jezeph. Powell was booked for the foul but Bromsgrove failed to capitalise on the set piece.

As the game entered the final five minutes of the half, Kettering won a corner on the open side. Hart’s kick from the open side was sent towards the far post where White headed down into the middle of the penalty area but no red shirt was there to finish the move allowing Robinson to clear the ball. It only went as far as Powell though who lobbed the ball up into the air but it drifted into the arms of Price.

With half time approaching Bromsgrove had the chance of turning a poor half for Kettering into a disastrous one. Lycett in possession inside the centre circle in his own half fed the ball back to Rowe who lobbed the ball forward for Lycett to run onto. With Kelly-Evans at his shoulder the Bromsgrove man ran deep into Kettering territory before threading the ball through for Meddows to run onto. Meddlesome collected the ball and sent an angled ball into the path of Soule rushing in on the opposite side of the goal. Somehow, the forward contrived to miss an open goal when the merest touch would have turned the ball home. The close proxime try of Powell might have distracted him, but it mattered not as the Linesman on the open side had flagged for offside.

An additional minute was played at the end of the half with Bromsgrove once again threatening the Kettering goal denied only by sterling defensive work from Towers on the edge of his own penalty area with the attack finally coming to a halt with Robinson staying offside with half time occurring before the restart.

Half Time: Kettering Town 0  Bromsgrove Sporting 2

Richard Lavery took advantage of the half-time break to make two substitutions in attempt to claw his side back into the game. The below par Edwards and limping York were replaced by Tyree Wilson and Terell Pennant.

Early in the half, the ball was played back to Jezeph but his clearance was poor going straight to Bromsgrove’s top scorer Meddows just inside the Kettering half and seeing the keeper out of position rolled the dice from thirty-five yards or more but the ball flew high and wide.

Five minutes into the half, following a restart inside the Bromsgrove half after the ball struck the referee, Thanoj played the ball out to Hart on the open side. Ben played the ball forward to the feet of Wilson who touched the ball into the path of Hart driving forward with purpose. He stumbled to the floor on his way forward but such was his determination that he regained his feet and maintained possession. Finding his way blocked by a pair of defenders, he fed the ball onto Pennant who held the ball up before slipping it forward to Powell on the overlap. Aaron got to the byline but his lofted cross was inaccurate and went over the bar for a goal kick.

Five minutes later, the Hart Wilson combination was in action again. Jezeph distributed the ball out wide to Hart just in front of the Bromsgrove bench. He played the ball once again to the feet of Wilson who retreated a couple of yards to give himself to turn and then threaded a perfect ball forward into the path of Hart. Ben took a touch and accelerated into the Bromsgrove penalty area between two defenders bouncing off the shoulder of Roberts, and while he was losing his footing, rifled the ball low and hard with his right foot past Price.1-2 Kettering Town 54 mins.

Shortly after Kettering’s goal, a free kick was awarded to the home team inside their own penalty area involving Lewis White. The Bromsgrove manager disagreed with the decision and voiced his discontent shouting expletives across the pitch. The open side linesman drew this to the attention of Mr Wesson the referee who booked the Mr Adey-Linforth for unsporting conduct. This period saw the end of Kettering’s resurgence with Bromsgrove looking the most likely team to score the next goal.

Just before the hour mark, Bromsgrove made their first substitution taking off Soule who just previously had to have treatment following a collision with a Kettering player to be replaced by Billy Shaw. Shortly after, Noel-Williams was down again requiring treatment but was able to continue. On the restart, the ball was played forward to Meddows who all too easily cut through the Kettering defence before shooting into the side netting and claiming a corner. The linesman did not make a decision and the referee went in favour of the attackers awarding them a corner on the stand side. Lycett’s corner was accurate and needed to be headed behind by White for another corner. This was headed well clear by Hart.

On sixty-five minutes, Meddows was again causing problems for Kettering cutting through the defence with crisp clean passing. His progress was stopped on the edge of the Kettering penalty area with a firm saving tackle by White causing the forward to lose his footing with cries for a penalty by the Bromsgrove players, but all they got was a corner. Lycett’s corner towards the far post was headed away by Ranger but only as far as Scott but his ball back into the box was once again cleared by Nile with the ball going out of play up-field. Kettering used the break in play to replace Andi Thanoj with Gary Stohrer.

Almost straight after, Bromsgrove were awarded a free kick. The ball was played forward by Lycett picking out Meddows inside Kettering’s penalty area he played the ball square to King but his effort was well wide of the post.

With under twenty minutes to play, Meddows picked out Robinson out wide. He played a hard low ball into the penalty area which deflected behind for a corner off Towers. The corner came to nothing but Kettering couldn’t clear the ball convincingly and the ball came straight to Meddows who chanced his arm from distance but his wild shot clipped a defender giving the visitors a corner on the open side. Rowe’s set piece was aimed towards the near post where Shaw with his back to the goal flicked it over the bar.

On seventy-six minutes, Bromsgrove made their second substitution with Lyden replacing Newell.  Kettering also made their final change of the afternoon with Isiah Noel-Williams, who’d been in the wars during the match, hobbling off to be replaced by Kai Fifield. Bromsgrove goalkeeper had gone down supposedly injured from a missile thrown onto the pitch. The offender was identified, ejected from the ground and subsequently arrested by the police.

The energy of Fifield injected some urgency into the Kettering team and shortly after coming on, broke forward from his own half with Wilson alongside him. Kai fed the ball onto Wilson who advanced into the penalty area and cut the ball back along the edge looking to play in Ranger. The ball was blocked by a defender bouncing back to Pennant but his shot was deflected behind for a corner. Before the corner was taken, Lycett was booked for attempting to bring Wilson down during the build up. The corner however came to nothing as Price rose calmly to claim the ball.

In the final minutes of the game, Luke Rowe entered Mr Wesson’s notebook booked for kicking the ball at Powell on the floor after the whistle had been blown. He was joined shortly after by Hart for a trip on Lycett. The referee had noted also the time-wasting antics of Bromsgrove and decided that Kettering would have an additional seven minutes to salvage something from the game.

The final act of the game was from the visitors with Robinson blazing the ball over the bar with virtually the last kick of the game.

Full Time: Kettering Town 1  Bromsgrove Sporting 2

 Another poor first half performance from Kettering, but unlike the Boxing Day game against Biggleswade, they failed to get anything from the game. Bromsgrove came with a plan and executed it perfectly. They won every defensive ball in the air aided by the holding and pulling of Kettering’s front pair which was not prevented by intervention of Mr Wesson and showed more determination and energy closing down the Kettering players and resorting to breaking up the flow of the game by conceding a string of free kicks. The pairing of Ranger and Edwards as a front pair did not produce any positive results and earlier in the season Kettering’s success was based on quick wide players playing the ball on the ground getting forward with pace. However,  recently slow pedestrian attacks have led to teams massing players in defence creating a solid wall which Kettering have failed to penetrate with any regularity. Today’s goal came from a move where the ball was played on the floor with the defence not given a chance to mass in numbers as were the two goals scored against Redditch. With players such as Callum Powell, Wilson, Fifield and Pennant we have plenty of ability to exploit the flanks rather than relying on a high ball game. With the team’s next three games being away from home, which includes our two games in hand, a turn around in form is needed as the side has accrued a total of two points out of a possible 15 in our last five away games.

Kettering Town yellow cards: Hart, Powell – fouls                                             

Bromsgrove Sporting yellow cards:  Roberts, Lycett – fouls  Rowe, Adley-Lindforth –                                                                                                                      unsporting conduct                                                

Attendance: 1114

Kettering Town Man-of-the-Match picked by ProsawBen Hart – On a day when the Kettering players produced a sub par performance Hart provided a brief period of hope with a determined effort to score but it was a single bright spot on a disappointing afternoon

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