Slick Bulls Defeat “Excellent” Kettering

Hereford made two changes. Pendley was injured and Jamie Egan rejoined on loan to partner Amadi-Holloway with Andoh and Latty-Fairweather in front of Visser completing the defence. In midfield were captain Lloyd, Hanson, Holmes and Thompson-Sommers. Up front McLean partnered Storey who came in for Barnett. Tyrone was joined on the bench by Hodgkiss, Lilly, Campbell and Livermore. 

When describing the structure of the team it is harder to describe formations. Manager Klukowski has tweaked and twisted Gowling’s 4-2-3-1. The Bulls now are that formation out of possession. When they have the ball it is 4-4-2. Even this adapts according to where possession is gained. In their own half it is more of a diamond. Further forward it is more of an orthodox 4-4-2. Overall players get forward more. The team is more flexible.

One player in particular make this work. Captain Lloyd covers so much ground. He is both a sitting defensive midfielder breaking up play and a left sided midfielder with probing passing. 

Strikers are encouraged to pull wide allowing midfielders to come through the centre. This has been particularly noticeable away from home but the Bulls richly entertained 1,876 fans. From the start the Whites were up an at ‘em. Storey’s pace was breaking the lines and both full backs augmented attacks. 

Hereford had strikes from McLean and Lloyd on target in the first five minutes as they attacked with brio. 

Kettering struggled to find the target with poor finishing. Hereford had most of the game but Egan got under a simple defensive header, flicking on to striker Knowles who was bearing down on the goal. Amazing Amadi from behind stretched out and performed the best tackle I have seen this season. He had no right to win the ball so cleanly in the box.

Hereford were peppering the Poppies goal as they attacked with speed and fluidity. 

Levi Andoh Tries His Luck

There was a failure to follow in shots on goal. Particularly when McLean’s shot from a narrow angle was not held by Mason. Miles was on his heels when if he had been on his toes he could have snaffled a tap in.

At half time Hereford had been dominant and the football had been enjoyable. Kettering were poor. Unused to a smoothly cut, even, well drained pitch as one wag put it they were struggling to play on grass after their Burton Latimer quagmire. Only Mansfield loanees Mason in goal and Knowles up front stood out. In every other position the Bulls had a clearly better player on the day. Returning Forsyth in midfield confirmed Gowling’s judgement to release him and he was substituted later on.

The Bulls started the half the better team. Kettering started to waste time and referee Scrivener was having a very poor game so failed to understand he was being manipulated. The Bulls then scored one of their best team goals of the season. Egan who had a very good second half drove a delicious diagonal out high to Holmes on the left. He controlled and cut back in, exchanging passes with the overlapping TLF. 

Captain Lloyd seeing the possibilities ran diagonally from the centre of the pitch towards the corner flag taking a defender with him and overloading Kettering’s right side defence. 

Holmes squaring up and advancing had two men to feed to his left as he approached the corner of the box. 

Storey pulled back beyond the far post. Holmes saw a gap in the middle of the Kettering defence created by Lloyd and TLF’s runs. He clipped a cross towards the back post which perfectly went just over Sharpe’s leap. Miles rose and nodded back a soft looping ball. 

Sorry - Photos Out Of Focus

KTS had been goal hanging by the penalty spot and was first to react and carefully head into the corner of the net giving Mason no chance.

Kettering did not respond and Hereford still had control of the game but could not get the second goal their play deserved. Kettering brought on Sherriff for Hill. Gradually Kettering came more into the game but the Bulls missed a golden chance to kill the game. Excellent work on the left by McLean saw him outpace Kettering on the left and advancing on goal it seemed he would shoot across goal. Having feinted to do so he rolled the ball across goal to the unmarked Storey who blasted a shot. Mason turning desperately spread himself in a star shape and pulled off a superb save with his left hand. 

Miles had hit the ball at a height which for a penalty would be seen as a comfortable height for a keeper. If he had simply passed the ball inside either post along the ground the Bulls would have doubled their lead. Kettering huffed and puffed but were repelled with Amadi-Holloway especially in magisterial form. McLean who had played well was replaced by Barnett possibly because he had been unnecessarily booked.

Storey was enjoying running at tiring defenders and showing what his pace could do. At times his teammates were underestimating how quickly he could get on to through balls. He took one opportunity to head to the edge of the box and unleash a fantastic strike which dipped and hit the corner of the bar and post. 

Goal scorer at Burton Latimer Lewthwaite came on for Forsyth but made little impact. Finally, in injury time the Poppies created a good chance and Knowles fiercely rising shot at the near post was well saved by Visser who had a quietish afternoon. 

Poorest performance by a long way was referee Scriven. Somehow he booked four Hereford players Amadi-Holloway, McLean, Andoh, and Storey. Only McLean who argued with the referee and then ten minutes later committed a heavy foul, paused and then decided to boot the ball a long way away deserved to get booked for a foolish moment of madness.

Kettering players committed similar challenges and escaped. It was more though his lack of football knowledge somehow believing balls going off the pitch were being hit off skew by Bulls players when they were naturally following the line of defensive challenges. He also failed to consult his assistants and to read the room by looking at how players reacted to get a sense of what had gone on.

There were many strong performances from the Bulls. A captain’s game by Lloyd. Amadi-Holloway was imperious. Storey roasted defender after defender from the start to the finish. Match Sponsor the Brown and Jones family remembering Samantha Brown selected Kane Thompson-Sommers. He is the most improved player under Klukowski. Playing at different times on the right, digging in to help defence but most of all floating around in the hole he was very influential. He has a good engine and complimented the two recent goals he created from set pieces with a goal today.

He reminds me a little of Gavin Mahon and if he continues his rate of improvement he will surely play at a higher level. With only Amadi-Holloway signed on for next season the Bulls would be wise to sign KTS now even though that means paying wages through the off season. In recent years too many talents like Kouhyar have been allowed to depart for nothing having been developed by the Bulls. It is years since Hereford received a transfer fee, one of the best ways to Boost the Budget.

Kettering’s manager Glover was very pleased with his team’s performance saying they were excellent. Hereford should have won more comfortably. It shows how much the Bulls have underperformed this season that they easily surpassed Kettering at the top of their form.