2005/06 season match No.48
Tuesday, April 11th, 2006
Nationwide North
Kettering Town 1, Alfreton Town 0
Match report by Clive Edwards. Pics by Phil Lucic.

Alfreton had the chances to win this match comfortably. But it would be unfair to criticise them.
Their performance was more than creditable. They performed well against an in-form opposition desperate for three points to keep alive their play-off hopes.
Kettering have had a strange season. The fact that they have recovered from the Gascoigne interlude, the sacking, rejoining and sacking of manager Kevin Wilson, to a point where they are now a stone’s throw away from the front runners is a near miracle.
As soap operas go, Kettering’s story makes Eastenders look uneventful.
The few travelling Alfreton fans must have known that it would be a difficult night.
Their side has the worst away record in the league- just one victory and a mere 14 goals scored.
Hardly promising. Easter is celebrated for a well-known miracle. Not even Wayne Rooney would have put a bet on Alfreton winning this one. Mmmmmm, then again…….
The first half was scrappy, and full of uncomplicated football, many of the players dealing with the poor playing surface by avoiding it altogether. Hoof, 20 yards down field, header, header, hoof, 20 yards back, and so on.
You get the picture. Peter Kaye in the John Smiths beer advert. That sort of thing.
A few chances merit description, though. For Kettering, after five minutes, Ollie Burgess found himself with the ball on the edge of the Alfreton six-yard box. Most people would have shot from this distance.
He dribbled his way along the six yard box, turned, and then tried to find his way back along the same line.
The Kettering fans howled in anguish. ‘Shoot!’ they yelled. ‘No, keep dribbling,’ we all thought.
And so he did, until Turner took the ball from him and cleared.
Then, on 23 minutes, Anthony Elding, who has scored a few goals of late since his transfer from Stevenage, found himself ball at feet, 12 yards out. He crashed it goalwards, and the ball ricocheted off Mark Turner for a corner. Elding should have done better, and he knew it.
But without doubt the best moment of the half was of Alfreton’s creation. A free kick after half an hour, was swung in by little Chris Howard. Michael Rankine outjumped his marker and glanced the header goalwards.
Poppies’ keeper Mark Osborn lunged to his right, stretched, grasped, and just finger-tipped the ball wide. It deserved a goal, despite the brilliance of the keeper.
The second half was much better. Plenty of chances, most of the better ones to Alfreton. Dave Robinson had a great header saved on the line by Theobald. That was from a Chris Howard free-kick.
This diminutive midfielder has added more than one dimension to Alfreton’s play. Two players on this field managed to cope with the poor surface. James Patterson for Kettering, and Howard for Alfreton.
Perhaps it is because both of them are only about five and a half feet tall.
The heading game is way above them, so they have to make the best of the surface, even when it is the shape of corrugated iron and the texture of school custard.
They were both good to watch. Howard, in particular, makes great use of set pieces. Corners and free-kicks are dangerous when he’s around. The ball goes quick, swerves and, like a good swing bowler with a new ball, he creates indecison in the defence. Should I go forward, back… oops !
And with Robbo and Rankine around, both of whom seem to care nothing for their physical wellbeing as heads clash, elbows fly and goalies’ fists flap, the result in the six-yard box is the sort of mayhem when someone in the playground yells ’Scrap!’
Great to watch, so long as you’re not on the receiving end.
A word also, about Sam Litchfield. He had a good game. He runs well with the ball, switches from one flank to another, and is beginning to link with his teammates. He has grown in confidence since his recent debut. He rifled one shot on the turn that Osborn just managed to keep out at the near post.
Unluckiest of all was Michael Rankine. In the second half, his strength, persistence and skill forged for himself three great chances.
Each of them he blasted goalwards. Subtle chips over the keeper’s head are not his style. Full blooded thunder-shots are. Osborn knew that he’d been in a contest at the end of this night. Rankine, with luck on his side, would have had a brace. He got none. It was great goalkeeping, and sheer bad luck for the Reds.
“I was pleased with all three strikers, “ said Gary Mills after the match. “Ranks and Stevo worked very hard, And Sam is a clever player. We just need a bit of inspiration infront of goal. We really deserved to win this one.”
In the latter 45 minutes, before they scored, Kettering had only one moment of note.
Elding may still be feeling it as you read this. A long ball over the top of the Alfreton defence prompted Simon Rayner to race from his goal at the galloping Elding. A yard from each other, Rayner smashed the ball with all his might, right-footed. It would surely have sailed out of the other end of the ground, had not Elding’s poor lower midriff got in the way.
The ball (the leather one) ricocheted back towards the goal and flashed a yard wide. In that delayed reaction that only the males of the species can know about, Elding, after about ten seconds, sank to the ground.
Some treatment with a sponge followed, and a few minutes later, Elding walked gingerly back to the half way line. He pulled open the top of his shorts and looked below, just checking.
Domestically, he’s going to need some tender care, and plenty of patience, in the next week or so.
As sickeners go, that was a bad one for the Kettering striker.
Just as their goal was for the Reds. A free kick with six minutes to go, given away by Howard in his own half, was taken left-footed by Patterson.
It swung goalwards. Rayner stayed on his line. Theobald poked it in from a yard out. It won the match, and seemed a complete injustice.
Alfreton’s dismal away run continues. But on this form, they are a far better side than they were three months ago.
KETTERING TOWN: Osborn, Diuk (Nicell 46), Okai, Theobald, McIlwain (Zico Black 46), Solkhon, Olaleye, Burgess, Elding, Makofo (McDougald 77), Patterson. Subs not used: Peter, Bussey.
ALFRETON TOWN: Rayner, Clarke, Featherstone, Robinson, Turner, Fisher, Howard, Nwadike, Rankine, Stevenson, Litchfield. Subs not used: Powell, Godber,Mills, Bodkin, Harcourt.
REFEREE: Mr W McIntosh (Lincoln).
ATTENDANCE 918.
SCORERS: Kettering Town - Theobald 84.
YELLOW CARDS:
Alfreton :
Nwadike 43 foul tackle
Kettering
Olaleye 54, foul tackle
Theobald 83 foul tackle
Elding 90+1 unsporting behaviour.
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH : Chris Howard.