MATCH SUMMARY:
The Poppies dominated large parts of this game on the St Ives 3G surface. However, they found themselves a goal down at half time after home substitute, Greg Kaziboni, scored on 38 minutes with his first touch, after coming on as substitute a minute before.
A strong second half performance saw Kai Fifield equalise from the penalty spot in the 69th minute and the returning Lewis White slotting in the winning goal in the 88th minute.
Make no mistake,this was an excellent performance against a team which very rarely loses at home.
THE KETTERING SQUAD:
Two new players started. Lewis White rejoined the Club from Spalding and striker Nile Ranger, who has been training at Barnett, started up front after Remaye Campbell joined Matlock. Wes York joined Isiah Noel-Williams on the injured list. Dan Jarvis started with Harlain Mbayo and Luca Miller reverting to the substitutes bench.
THE TEAMS:
St Ives Town:
1 Dan Wilks
2 Benji Mensah
3 Aaron Smith (15 Albie O’Keefe 90+1)
4 Byron Lawrence (12 Ethan Creary,87)
5 Johnny Herd
6 Alex Collard (Captain)
7 Theo Alexandrou (14 David Adegbola,76)
8 Peter Abimbola (16 Greg Kaziboni,36)
9 Johnny Edwards
10 Kobe Chong (17 Silvano Obeng,82)
18 Paddy Casey
Unused Substitutes: None
Yellow Card: Alexandrou,45
Kettering Town:
1 Dan Jezeph
2 Ben Hart (Captain)
3 Aaron Powell
4 Devon Kelly-Evans
5 Connor Johnson
8 Andi Thanoj
9 Nile Ranger
10 Dan Jarvis
11 Tyree Wilson
19 Kai Fifield
Unused Substitutes:
6 Sidik Atcha
14 Harlain Mbayo
17 Luca Miller
18 Kombe Kawimbe
20 Daniel Emovon
Yellow Cards: White,24;Johnson,30; Jarvis,78.
HOW THE GAME UNFOLDED:
A fine evening welcomed the two teams.
St Ives were the first to show as the Poppies lost the ball in midfield and home star striker Johnny Edwards saw his shot blocked. The returning Benji Mensah rampaged down the right but his cross was out of reach of his strikers.
Kettering then got in their stride with the lively Kai Fifield seeing his shot deflected for a fruitless corner. In the 9th minute, there were credible appeals for a penalty as Andi Thanoj saw his shot hit an outstretched arm. The Referee wasn’t interested.
The visitors then came very close to opening the scoring as Devon Kelly-Evans saw his on-target deflected shot loop up and just clear the bar.
Kettering had a great chance to open the scoring in the 12th minute as Tyree Wilson crossed from the left and with the goal at his mercy, Dan Jarvis completely missed his header.
The Kettering pressure continued and crosses from Aaron Powell and Ben Hart were both collected by Dan Wilks in the home goal.
Lewis White was cautioned on 24 minutes for a professional foul after losing possession but the resultant free kick was cleared away.
Three minutes later, Nile Ranger had his first chance in Kettering colours as he met a Jarvis corner from the left. However, the header was over at the near post. In reply, home skipper Alex Collard headed wide from a home corner.
St Ives scored out of the blue substitute Greg Kaziboni fired high into the net from 20 yards with his first touch of the game.
1-0 St Ives – 38 minutes
As the half came to a close, Fifield saw his shot cannon off a defender and at the other end Alexandrou shot dangerously across goal from the left but the ball was deflected for an unproductive corner.
Half Time : St Ives Town 1 – 0 Kettering Town
There were no player changes at half time.
The Poppies came out in determined fashion. Within minutes both Jarvis and Hart won corners, Kelly-Evans’ thunderbolt hit Collard squarely on his head and another Thanoj shot hit an arm, again with no penalty awarded. Fifield then shot straight at Wilks which characterised a breathtaking the first ten minutes of the second half.
St Ives did finally break out with Dan Jezeph taking Alexandrou’s cross and Edwards shot into the side netting. Mensah finally got forward again on the break but poked a loose ball wide.
Kettering’s Jarvis saw his shot saved on the hour and a couple of minutes later Fifield shot just over from 30 yards. A goal was coming though as Kettering continued to surge forward. It came on 69 minutes. Fifield was brought down in the penalty area, and he got up to fire home from the penalty spot.
1-1 – 69 minutes
It was now all Kettering. St Ives made their full allocation of substitutes to try to stem the attacks but to little avail.
Jarvis won a corner which drifted out for a goal kick. On 74 minutes, Aaron Powell’s shot looped up off Wilks and a defender on the line cleared under pressure. Kelly-Evans’ left foot shot cleared the bar
and a shot from Jarvis clearly hit an arm but no penalty given and Jarvis was cautioned for his protest.
All St Ives could muster at this stage was a wild Kaziboni shot which went badly high and wide. The Poppies were still pouring forward and on 85 minutes Kelly-Evans saw his shot punched away by Wilks.
Yet again a Jarvis shot was blocked but he was integral to the winning goal on 88 minutes. The home defence were unable to clear from a corner and Jarvis got in a low cross from the left which eventually found Lewis White who scored with a low left foot shot.
1-2 Kettering- 88 minutes.
In added time, a neat flick by Nile Ranger saw Jarvis collect and shoot wide.
Full Time: St Ives Town 1 – 2 Kettering Town
Attendance: 471 (Poppies fans estimated at 200)
Poppies Media man of the match: Kai Fifield
Referee:Christopher Poole; Assistant Referees: Gavin Jolley and Ian Pascu
Forthcoming HOME games:
Saturday September 14th – Cleethorpes Town at 3pm (Emirates FA Cup 2nd Round Qualifying)
Saturday September 21st – Lowestoft Town at 3pm
Tuesday September 24th – Stamford AFC at 7.45pm
