The sanded pastures of Stopford have become a familiar haunt in recent weeks.  This time, though, we were ready.  Properly ready, right from the start.  Drill Sergeant Jan B made sure of that.

The invisible orange ball exchanged for a yellow and off we went.  South started well enough and, with the lion's share of the play, asked more of the early questions.  Pressure building from the wingbacks of Simon J, Dan T and our third wingback (WTF?) Kenneth L.  But a mis-trap here and a stuck foot there meant team chances were slow to materialise.  At the other end Kettering's winger looked dangerous and the South defence were stretched more than once.

Eventually the breakthrough came from Rob B with a standard thunderbolt from a short at the second time of asking.  1-0.  It could've, should've, would've been double after a delightful Nev W through ball cut open the whole back line for Rob to drive at the keeper and square to Andy T to tap home, only for his marker to get just enough stick in the tackle to deflect wide.  Still pleasingly textbook play.

The home side were not to be rattled and stepped up counterplay.  When their stronger midfielder combined with a forward to breach our last man, it was Jo D's cat-like reactions that saved the shot and the subsequent rebound attempt to preserve the lead.  Phew, that felt important.  Still 1-0.  James P and Will B were both called to action at last man.  But South kept pressing and managed a few further circle penetrations without reward.

At the half-time talk we reminded ourselves there was still a game to play and it would only take one slip to draw parity.  This felt far from over.  It was up to us to deliver.  And deliver we did.

A more determined South stepped up their game with Jan B, Jordan W and MoM Kieran B taking control at the heart of the match.  There was triangle passing now and decent team cohesion.  Jan B is looking increasingly sharp at attacking free hits.  It was one such snappy move - tackle, pass, pass, pass, shift, bang - that killed the game.  Rob B with his instinctive second.  2-0.

About now Dan T, who had had a solid match to this point, pulled a hamstring (again, GWS Dan!) and limped off.  Ouch.  Back on the pitch three more goals quickly followed.  Jordan W slapped home a well-deserved finish to secure the result.  3-0.  Jordan seems more impactful in that line behind and some breathtaking play in the last quarter of the match showed us exactly what he's capable of with the ball.  Then a bit of magic.  Kenneth L set off a great passage of play from right back, which saw the ball meander from right to left, via Simon J and Jordan W, to Nev W who cracked a deep cross only to be turned home at the back play via a diving reverse sweep from ... wait for it ... Ken.  Where did he come from?  Did mad scientist Simon just invent teleportation?  4-0.  There was time for almost a further short corner goal, the keeper's stick somehow deflecting another thunderbolt vertically up and over the bar, before Kieran B completed the scoring having started and finished another slick move.  His second goal for the senior club.  5-0.  

The match finished exactly as South want to play with structured, determined, fast, passing hockey.

Fair play to a genuine Kettering M4s side who put up a decent resistance for the best part of an hour, showed promise and mustered a handful of dangerous chances.  A friendly team to play and both sides commented on a nice-tempered encounter.  Thanks to the umpires who controlled the match well.  Oh and the Lancashire hotpot was sublime.  More of that over the hotdogs please!

MoM - shouts to Jo D for a few decent stops including that crucial double save at 1-0, and credit to Ken L for a shining performance and bending physics, but the nod went to Kieran B for yet another dominant display.

LoM - a two-way tie between Andy inside-out-shorts-no-wait-a-minute T and Will locked-out-both-girlfriend-and-her-mother B.  Oops.  Why choose one when you can go with two?