The Other Side… Kettering Town FC
United look for back to back away wins this evening when they traverse the A14 to face Kettering Town. Lee Harper's men have won three of their past four matches, although, last Saturday's 2-0 victory over Grays was their first at home in over five months, so Martin Ling's men will travel confident of causing an upset.
It has been a season of upheaval for the Rockingham Road outfit, with controversial Chairman Imraan Ladak and talismanic manager Mark Cooper both leaving the club in recent months.
Nevertheless, Harper, who stepped down as first choice goalkeeper to concentrate on Managerial duties, is slowly beginning to find his feet, with the Poppies sat in fourth place following yesterday's expunging of Chester City's results. The Northamptonshire side had yet to play City, so rose two places.
Cooper led Kettering to the Blue Square North title in 2007/08 with five games to spare, amassing thirty wins and a massive 96 points along the way. The team carried that momentum into the start of last season when ten games passed before defeat was tasted. Cooper's direct, physical, but very impressive style of play lead to victories against Stevenage, York and United at the Abbey as heads were turned. Resilience was also displayed when, despite consecutive losses to Burton and Crawley, they bounced back with four straight wins which took them to the top of the table by mid-October.
Unfortunately, though, the distraction of cup football began to takes its toll. Thumping victories in the Setanta Shield over Thurrock, Bishops Stortford and Hinckley, as well as five energy-sapping FA Cup ties with Lincoln City, Notts County and Eastwood Tow boosted the financial coffers, but league form suffered as a quartet of matches passed without success.
Their FA Cup run was extended with a glamour tie against Premiership side Fulham and, whilst the Setanta Shield trail went cold at AFC Telford, the FA Trophy provided supplementary income. Nonetheless, after a gallant home performance against the Cottagers they bowed out 4-2, and days later AFC Telford again lodged a thorn in their side when ending Trophy dreams. All this left Kettering with six league games in hand on their promotion rivals but, running on empty following cup exploits, they found it difficult to make up ground.
They still proved difficult to beat, but numerous draws and inconsistency prevented them climbing the table. February did pass without defeat, but resources were stretched during March as their extra league games caught up with them. Six winless matches in April, including the 2-1 home loss to United, then ended any hope of reaching the play-offs. Despite this, though, Cooper will have been happy with the campaign and the progression his side had made.
Highly-rated twenty goal top scorer Gareth Seddon surprisingly left for ambitious Blue Square North side Fleetwood in the summer whilst ex-United man Craig Westcarr, who bagged eleven, joined Notts County. Experienced key defender Guy Branston, like Westcarr, became a Football League player when signing for Burton Albion. However, despite losing integral members of his squad, Cooper guided Town to another positive start to this season, and before long other clubs started to taking interest. Another win at the Abbey in mid-November elevated Town into third place and, this proved Cooper's last game in charge, with Championship strugglers Peterborough swooping. Harper was installed as the new supremo, with former Wigan and Norwich boss John Deehan appointed as Assistant Manager shortly after.
Meanwhile, concerns surrounding the future of Rockingham Road have loomed for some time, and Town face the risk of being barred from the play-offs. Just three years remain on their ground lease, and a contract of 10 years or more, or stadium ownership, is needed to be eligible for promotion.
Countless meetings had taken place between the local council, club officials and their landlords in an effort to reach a suitable arrangement, but Chairman Ladak's volatile nature meant the brakes were allegedly slammed on any deal. By late January Ladak had stepped down, despite retaining ownership of the club, claiming he was exasperated by the events of recent months and its associated officialdom. However, the Poppies are now confident a deal can be reached, with recent meetings proving positive.
This will be our 27th competitive encounter with the Poppies, with matches stretching back to August 1958. That first game took place at Rockingham Road in the guise of a Southern League Inter-Zonal Cup clash, and saw the hosts triumph 1-0. Since then Town have recorded twelve victories compared to ten for United.
The Squad
Following Cooper's departure to Peterborough and Chairman Ladak cutting the budget, there have been several changes to the squad of late. One recent arrival is journeyman goalkeeper Nathan Abbey, who began the season with Rushden and, remarkably, is now with his sixteenth career club. Abbey has kept four clean sheets in eight games to date, and his signing means Harper will be the support act.
The Poppies defence has conceded a miserly 26 goals this season, thanks to the leadership of experienced goal-scoring Captain John Dempster. His regular partner Exodus Geohaghan joined Cooper at Peterborough last November, so stepping into the breach has been ex-Luton and Walsall man Ian Roper. The full back positions are admirably filled by former Northampton youngster Greg Taylor and the highly rated James Jennings, both of whom signed last summer. The latter bagged his first goal for the club in Town's 2-0 home victory over Grays last Saturday. Centre-half Alton Thelwell, once of Spurs, will probably be amongst the substitutes.
Boss Harper appeared to play a five man midfield in that game, with former Walsall stalwart Darren Wrack, who made nearly 400 appearances for the Saddlers, adopting the holding role. Left-sided ex-Walsall and Aldershot man Andre Boucaud plays on either the right wing or behind a lone striker, whilst Marcus Kelly, who switched from Oxford last November, will line up on the left. James Dance, a youth team graduate, and the tigerish Jordan Hadfield, will also be utilised in midfield. Hadfield was given his break by Paul Ince at MK Dons, and has also served Macclesfield and Bradford City. Warming the bench could be Danny Thomas, who brings experience from spells at Boston, Bournemouth and Macclesfield.
Town's striking options have changed frequently this season. The campaign began with new signings Damian Spencer, who arrived from Cheltenham, Macclesfield's Francis Green and former Shrewsbury man Moses Ashikodi. Further, the surprise capture of Crewe loanee Anthony Elding gave the Poppies a forward line to envy. Nevertheless, despite scoring frequently, both Ashikodi and Green, seemingly unsettled, left the club for Ebbsfleet and Oxford respectively, whilst seven-goal Elding made a shock move to Hungarian Champions Ferencvaros, now managed by ex-Sheffield United defender Craig Short. Furthermore, Spencer joined Kidderminster on loan before a similar spell at Aldershot.
Still on the books, though, is the lightning quick Jean-Paul Marna, who has nine goals this season. If Harper does decide on a lone striker, then 19-year Kwesi Appiah, snapped up from Weymouth in January, may get the nod to start. Also chomping at the bit but, most likely to be on the bench, will be new recruits Elliott Charles, recently released by Barnet, and Nigerian under 23 International Chijioke Pascal Ebigbo.
The season so far
A 2-1 win at Forest Green commenced a run of just one defeat in their first nine games, with the only blip being a 2-1 home reverse to newly promoted AFC Wimbledon. Away form proved particularly impressive, as further victories were clocked up at Kidderminster and Wrexham, with a useful point claimed from the trip to Mansfield. Overall, Town have the most notable away record in the division, with a huge twelve wins and two draws to their name, weighed against just four defeats. York, Crawley, Histon and Stevenage being the lucky beneficiaries. Amongst the impressive scalps are a 2-1 revenge victory at AFC Wimbledon and triumphs at Luton 1-0, Barrow 2-0, Tamworth 4-1 and the earlier mentioned success at United in November.
Harper will be kicking himself then that the Poppies home form is so poor, with fifteen other sides in the division bettering their record. Despite the AFC Wimbledon setback, Town started satisfactorily at Rockingham Road, with wins over Wrexham, Altrincham and Gateshead, who returned north with a 4-0 thumping, whilst promotion favourites Luton were held to a 0-0 draw. Barrow were also defeated, whilst Ebbsfleet were sent home with a 3-0 loss. Unfortunately, this is where it started to go wrong and, as aforementioned, five inexplicable months passed before the home fans witnessed victory. There were four further draws to savour, forming part of a decent unbeaten run overall but, following Cooper's November departure, Hayes & Yeading, Kidderminster, Salisbury and York all snatched maximum points from their visits. This form did threaten to derail their season as the play-offs places started to disappear but, that impressive away record, breaking the hoodoo with last weekend's win over Grays, and the Chester situation working in their favour has boosted hopes.
Away from League action a fine 1-0 win at Hartlepool set up a money-spinning tie with Leeds, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Rockingham Road. They lost the replay 5-1 after extra time, but the match was overshadowed by accusations of Ladak interfering with team selection, coupled with the post-match sacking of Assistant boss John Deehan, which also made Harper consider his position.
Doug Shulman
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