Kettering Nomads FC

28th November 2009

Conway, R Thurlow 

Manager Rick Conway, gave one of his most rousing team talks in recent years in an attempt to stir his troops. He pointed to last season's success, and the fact that the class of 2009/10 were "on paper" a stronger prospect. However with confidence at rock bottom, and morale lower than the Stephen Gateley fan club, Nomads were required to show more fight than Craig Tindle on a Nomad's poker night!!!.

Starting line up:  Heads, MacNiven, Stokes, H Lee, Conway, Martin, R Thurlow, Hector, Perkins, Sanders, Marks. Subs: K Lee, Hobson, Castka.

With no wind, rain or even bright sunshine, the playing conditions were near perfect as Nomads won the toss and elected to shoot towards the cricket nets. 

From the off, Nomads were on the front foot and within 2 minutes had taken the lead. With a free kick being awarded for a crude foul on Thurlow, an inch perfect delivery from Hector was met by an on coming Conway to power a header into the top corner, to give Nomads the ideal start. For the next 25-30 minutes, Nomads totally dominated with some fine football, with Hector, Martin and Thurlow at the forefront of everything Nomads created. Perkins and Conway also combined well to cause the visitors all sorts of problems, and chances came and went as Sanders and Marks both had great chances to double Nomads lead. This certainly was not the same Nomads outfit from the previous 2-3 weeks. The only surprise was that as the half time whistle blew, Moulton were still in contention.

The half time team talk was cool, calm and collected from Rick as he pressed home the need to get that all important second goal.

The second half got under way with Nomads once again in the ascendency, however it became clear that the youthful visitors were hell bent on making an impact on the afternoon's proceedings. A rejuvenated Moulton started to push forward, playing some neat football, and on the 60 minute mark were level when a through ball left the No 9 one on one with Heads. As he rounded the on coming veteran, Heads was left with little choice but to bring down the striker. Without pausing, the referee pointed to the spot and awarded a penalty, the covering H Lee being the only reason Heads was booked and not sent off. Moulton's lanky No 10 sent the visiting fans into ecstasy as he comfortabley slotted the spot kick home to level the scores.  With morale as fragile as Katie Price's mental health, Moulton sensed that three points were there for the taking.

After an indifferent few weeks, Nomads back four collectively worked overtime to win headers, block tackles and snub out a now hungry Moulton team. As the half wore on, the game once again turned when a superb interception by Stokes led to him finding the impressive Thurlow, whose pace left the visiting defence in his sliptream, and before the keeper had the chance to set himself, Thurlow found the net with a wonderfully struck left foot strike. With 15 minutes on the clock could Nomads pick up the full 3 points??.

Moulton threw everything at Nomads in an attempt to equalise, and with the lion's share of possession, forced corner after corner. H Lee, Stokes and Heads all prevented goalbound efforts, whilst substitute Castkia also cleared from his own goal line. With ten minutes left, a clumsy tackle 20 yards out led to a dangerous free kick. As the impressive No 10 struck the ball, a goal looked inevitable. As the ball rocketed towards the top corner, Heads defied his age and gravity, to dive full length to finger tip the goalbound effort onto the crossbar, with the rebound being scrambled clear. Five minutes later, there was a case of deja vu as an identical free kick was awarded. This time the ball flew past the despairing Heads onto the bar, and as the rebound landed at the head of the oncoming striker, home linesman S Walton flagged offside as the ball was put into the net. There were no arguments, as the referee correctly agreed with his assistant.

Nomads relief was there for all to see as the ref blew for time. After a truely impressive first half, Nomads showed all their battling qualities to pick up a hard earnt 3 points. Moulton can feel a little aggrieved not to have at least picked up a point, however if Nomads can show this kind of heart whilst also playing like they did in the first forty five minutes, then the results will go their way over the coming weeks.