“Yellow socks, yellow shirts, nothing else yellow.” Stu Rimmer, 23rd November

Following a feisty encounter the previous week, captain Stu’s message was straightforward. Or so we thought. After overcoming a last minute yellow sock and shirt crisis, the M1s headed up the A14 to Kettering equipped with fourteen calm players, twenty-six yellow socks and thirteen yellow shirts. With the absent skipper's words in mind, the pre-match buzzwords were ‘temper’ (restrain the animal within), along with ‘tempo’ (control the speed of the game).

After edging the opening exchanges against a well-organised Kettering, we were rewarded with a prime opportunity to take the lead. Woe betide, the ball fell to the ever-clinical Harry C five yards out. Unbelievably, the keeper pulled off the impossible save from a shot which was straight down the middle with little to no power or lift.

Fortunately, not long after this we took the lead through a well worked short routine, which Sam kindly allowed James to bundle in. With the tempo looking good, Joel swiftly forgot about his temper and the inner beast started to take hold, resulting in some handbags and verbals. The animal now in the driving seat, Joel allowed the opposition striker to run through on goal unopposed, assuming the whistle would go for a possible Kettering foot moments earlier. No whistle came and the team looked on as George saved the day. Although this earned him Lemon, the animal was not seen for the rest of the afternoon.

An aerial bombardment rained in the second half, Tom Rosselli demonstrating a regular way of dealing with the high ball. Mikey, equally effective, took a more unorthodox approach with a series of mind bogglingly uncoordinated but sensational reverse stick takes.

Some controlled build up let James double his goal tally with another reverse hit, firing in under the keeper to give us a two goal cushion. With twenty to go, Kettering worked up some strong momentum for five or so minutes. Tempo in mind, we slowed the match down, took the sting out the game and largely controlled the last ten-to-fifteen minutes.

All round, it was a real team performance with no clear stand out performers. Notable mentions must go to:-

• George for some fine saves to keep a clean sheet on his return to the 1s.

• James who, after two weeks away on a mindfulness boot camp, restrained the inner beast for an entire seventy minutes.

• Sam for picking up MoM after a good shift in midfield.