Kettering Nomads FC

7th November 2009

                                                     Hobson, Castka

Following last week's cup heartbreak, Nomads reserves returned to league action against old foes Bugbrooke Saint Michaels. Manager Rick Conway had the now customary selection problems, with Mark Perkins (swine flu), Calum Conway (filming new Gok Wan series) and Laurie Macniven (work) all unavailable from last weeks squad. Welcomed back to the fold were Andy Harvey, Andy Stanley and Kal Lee, whilst new father Darren Charsley was available again after being cup tied last week.

With only the league left to concentrate on, Rick stressed that although they had not fired on all cylinders this season, the reserves had only lost one league game and a run of 3-4 wins would certainly put Nomads amongst the divisions front runners.

Starting line up:  Heads, K Lee, H Lee, Stokes, Stanley, Harvey, Hector, Martin, Castka, Hobson, Sanders. Subs: Charsley, L Walton, Lynch.

On a small bumpy pitch, it became clear from the off that as a spectacle the game was never going to be a classic. Nomads exerted early pressure on their hosts, who in turn seemed happy to opt for the long ball option, relying on the "human whippet" of a centre forward to cause problems with his obvious pace. With Nomads employing Martin in a holding midfield role, wingers Harvey and Castka were encouraged to attack as much as possible. After a succession of long throws, corners and set pieces, Nomads broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when Hobson latched on to a through ball to fire past the static home keeper. After such a bright start, Rick would have been looking for Nomads to take the game to Bugbrooke, however one of Nomads main faults this season has been consistency, with 5-10 minutes of wonderful football being followed by long periods of panic, errors and poor decisions. 

Almost inevitably, Bugbrooke were on level terms on the 35 minute mark, when their pacy centre forward cruised past Stokes who clumsily tripped the goal bound striker. The referee did not hesitate in awarding a penalty, and the victim of Stokes "assault" dusted himself down to confidently blast the ball past Heads to level the scores. Straight from the re-start Nomads regained the lead, when some fine play from Sanders, Hector and Castka resulted in the latter firing his first of the season and Nomads second of the day. Confusion followed as the home linesman flagged for off-side, but the referee rightly over ruled this dubious flag, allowing Nomads to go in at half time 2-1 up. A far from happy Rick did not hold back during the half time talk, quite rightly summing up Nomads inability to keep the ball, therefore giving a poor Bugbrooke outfit the belief they could pick up the 3 points. 

The second half got under way with Bugbrooke looking for an equaliser, whilst at the other end the threat of a Nomads break away goal was always on the cards. With the clock ticking down, Rick replaced K Lee and Castka with Charsley and L Walton. Bugbrooke poured forward and with 10 minutes remaining, a shout for a penalty was waved away when the ball struck Charsley's arm whilst he was grounded. Another day and another referee could quite easily have awarded the spot kick.

As the game went into injury time, Heads was forced to make his only notable save of the day, parrying a close range shot then reacting to save the rebound with his feet. With the game in its final seconds, Heads misjudged a corner, leaving the Bugbrooke centre forward with the goal at his mercy - how he managed to loop it over the bar from 8 yards is a mystery.

A hard earned, if not fully deserved, 3 points had been won. With tough games coming up against the Divisions stronger teams, Nomads really have to start finding some consistency if they are to have any chance of pushing for honours. The general feeling is that this Nomads reserve team is more than capable of finishing in the top two, however their ability to press the self destruct button may well cost them dear over the coming months.