The game was as grey as the weather yesterday.
Kettering (as to be expected) had more of the ball than us but we generally looked pretty comfortable. The crippling injury list this early in the season is a real kick in the teeth. We had plenty of the ball in good counter attacking areas in the 2nd half but with no Little/Senior/Johnson to take advantage of it rarely looked like making it count. Heffernan and Clee tryed their best but Kettering's two giant centre halves were in command. The main difference in the end was the subs, Kettering could bring on Gareth Seddon and Moses Ashikodi, we had to pick injured players on the bench knowing full well they couldn't even warm up. Incidentally Kettering's centre back and captain (Roper) and their keeper (Harper) are two of the fattest players I've seen at this level, think Matt Redmile of Tamworth or Jim Bentley at Morecambe fat, how they are full time and still with that physique is a mystery.
Denham again outstanding up front, I'm glad he and GH sorted out their differences, he has been mustard everytime I've seen him this season. He would the Kettering crowd up no end as per too.
The view from the stand ( beneath the stand it was like an old WW2 bomb site, very bizarre, just debris and general rubbish piled up) pretty good but buying tickets before the game, closing off sections of the ground and announcing it online a few days before, all pretty poor form. Kettering would like to think they're some bigtime club heading for the league, well they never have been and never will be. If it takes them 82 minutes to break down an Alty side missing four regulars and they're getting 1100 home fans through the gate they have a long way to go. At least one of the worst away trips of the season is out of the way early on.
Oh and a special mention for Kettering's main stand doing the old Soccer AM 'easy, easy' thing when they first goal went in, in the 82nd minute of the game. It sums them up very well. Cluless.