South 3rds kept our strong defensive record up by holding hosts Kettering to a blank in this match. Unfortunately they did the same to us as well!

The opening exchanges saw Kettering on top as the M3s tried to get used to a much re-jigged defensive formation, with just Chris at centre-back playing the same position as last Saturday. Jan had switched to sweeper (no, really!), Raj came in at right-back, where he was typically excellent (see MoM) with former M3s skipper, Jelley, completing the rearguard as he stepped up from the M4s to play left-back.

We were pushed back in these opening exchanges and were fortunate that none of Kettering’s moves in this period came off properly, leaving George fairly untroubled in our goal. Once the new look defence had settled we had our own period of pressure, but without putting the hosts' keeper under much more stress than our own stopper had faced.

Towards the end of the half we got an indication that the match was going to be umpired to a higher standard than is sometimes the case in 5NW (a good thing, in case you are wondering), when one of the hosts' forwards was dispatched back to halfway on a penalty corner for encroaching inside the circle before the inject. This was followed by a green card for a home defender in the dying seconds of the half for a heavy challenge just inside the twenty-five, which might have brought a penalty corner if Ollie hadn’t collected the loose ball and put a dangerous ball across the circle (which was absolutely the right thing to do - play to the whistle).

The second half was initially delayed as Simon was checking how his wife’s photographs had come out (see Lemon, or at least part of it). Once it finally got under we were having the better of territory and possession but always wary of the potential for a counterattack as Kettering pushed forwards high up the pitch. Shorts were coming at both ends without being converted. The best two chances of the game did stem from corners though; both our chances, both from Kettering PCs! On each occasion their routine broke down with a foul and a quickly taken hit out found a free man who was able to feed the ball on upfield to a forward with an unopposed route to goal. Rob had the first of these one-on-ones but saw his attempt smothered by the Kettering keeper. And Simon had the second, with exactly the same outcome! D’Oh…

We might have had a third counter if a retreating Kettering midfielder hadn’t gone the full Zaire and made off with our free-hit. He saw yellow for his troubles but we couldn’t make the extra man pay and, as time ticked down, not losing a hard fought game became as important as winning it. George pulled off some key saves in the dying minutes, there was at least one goalmouth scramble that was heart-in-mouth before being cleared and then the final play of the game saw Kettering awarded one last short. Chris, running one, got a piece of it, Jan got another stick to the deflected ball and wide it went for the draw.

This was a spirited but good natured game, despite the cards, between two basically evenly matched teams. We look forward to the return in Cambridge in the New Year when hopefully there will also be some goals to report on.

A photo gallery of the match is available on the Kettering website.