Hereford Draw On Bobbly Kettering Pitch

Son of Eric reports from Kettering.

On a pleasant evening which saw Josh in a tee shirt encouraging his team Hereford adjusted to life without star player Maz Kouhyar. 614 attended with about 120 from the Shire. Captain Hall continued in goal, but Hereford switched to a 5-3-2 set up with McLean and Revan as wing backs. Egan, Pearce and Pollock were the centre backs, Patten, Haines and TOE in midfield and with goals needed for a win to sustain a play-off push there were finally two up front - Faal and Storey. There were only four on the bench Touray, Klukowski, Pinchard and Campbell. The Kettering pitch may be the bobbliest in the division. There are clear problems with drainage in Burton Latimer. In parts the ground was dry after the recent good weather, but Kettering had clearly heavily watered the pitch to try and make for better football. This had resulted in flooding of the terrace at one end, and any player trying to run with the ball faced a lottery on whether they could retain control.

Hereford created the first chance, Faal found McLean who headed straight at keeper Smith. Kettering had changed since playing at Edgar Street with new manager Culverhouse clearing out several players including Kyle Perry who clearly does not fit in with his thinking. Up front strikers Sheriff and Crawford were sharp and nippy. Kettering still rely on long throws and this created Hereford challenges all night long. When the ball fell to Crawford, he hit the bar and Hall saved the rebound. Hall was looking to release the ball quickly and regularly found attacking players in good positions. Kettering mostly played a long ball game which was a reasonable strategy with the unreliable pitch.

Hereford started to play that way too, but Faal and Storey seemed at times too far apart from each other to combine easily. When Miles broke free he was cynically fouled by Johnson at the expense of a yellow card. Tom took the resultant free kick which was claimed by Smith. A long hopeful punt was a little over hit. It bounced a little awkwardly and centre back Daly and keeper Smith misjudged it. With the ball running on towards the left corner flag Miles sprinted and reached the ball but he was at a very tight angle. He passed the ball into the far side netting of the empty net as Kettering’s players scrambled back in vain. A fine finish.

Crawford’s pace was troubling the Hereford backline and he got down the left whipping in a low hard cross to the near post, this was cleared but only to the edge of the box. Hall had come towards his near post anticipating the danger. The ball fell on the edge of the box to Sharpe, and he shot hard back across the goal and scored. Kettering had been marginally the better side so the equaliser was deserved.

Just before half time Storey pulled up with what appeared to be a strain and after treatment, he was substituted for Touray, so the two strikers became Mo and Mo. Both sides were putting a lot of effort in, but the pitch was spoiling attempts to play football.

In the second half Kettering had the better of the game. They had several free kicks, corners, and especially long throws. Hereford’s three centre backs dealt well with the initial ball but many times the ball fell to a Kettering player who shot and failed to hit the target, often going just wide and on another day with better finishing they could have won comfortably. It was reminiscent of how Culverhouse’s Kings Lynn troubled Hereford in the past.

Hereford played more on the break but failed to understand the pitch. A bad miskick by keeper Smith saw the ball gifted to McLean but he tried to chest control the ball on the edge of the box and the Poppies recovered, when a hopeful but technically difficult first-time lob towards an empty goal was the best option. Another time the ball was fed back to Ryan just outside the box and he tried to take a touch to control before shooting and he was charged down and blocked. A good driving run from Tom fed Touray on the right and all that was required was a relatively simple block pass one-two ball back into the box, but Mo sliced the pass into the arms of the keeper. Working down the left Touray held the ball up well and just needed to wait for Revan and release the ball in behind. As Seb sprinted past, Touray overhit the ball and Seb had no chance of getting to the ball before it became a goal kick. Good possession unnecessarily wasted. Hereford needed goals and a win on a bad pitch. There was insufficient urgency to have a go and try and score at times. Tom stepped up into Maz’s shoes and hit many good dead balls.

Klukowski came on in midfield for Faal with Owen-Evans moving up front. Haines was eventually booked after being warned several times. It is part of his game to be combative and his long throws were useful as ever. Stead hit the post and Kettering continued to look more likely but thankfully their finishing was poor. Tom had a good game, but I would make Revan my man of the match for all his work back and forth, the wing back role suits him.