Marna strike earns a draw for Poppies at home to Crawley Town

April 15, 2009—

Kettering Town 1
Marna 64

Crawley Town 1
Bulman 20

Kettering Town host Crawley Town at the A-Line Arena on Wednesday night in what will be the Poppies third match in a busy five day period. Both teams had harboured play-off hopes but recent poor results have left both teams having to contend with a top ten finish.

Not really much pressure on either side as the chances of reaching the play-offs are only hanging on a mathematical thread before tonight's re-arranged fixture, so it should be a much more open game than perhaps expected.

A quiet opening to the match with a couple of long range efforts from the visitors not really troubling Lee Harper in the home goal. A lot of huffing and puffing in the middle of the park but little of consequence in front of either goal in the first ten minutes.

Some good build up play between Eaden and Westcarr but again the final ball in is lacking the necessary quality to provide any clear cut chance for the intended target, Alfie Potter. At the fifteen minute mark Crawley just have the slight edge.

GOAL:   A very fast break from the blue-shirted visitors and before the Poppies defence has a chance to react Shaw plays in Danny Bulman who slams the ball past Harper at the far post to give Crawley a 1-0 lead on 20 minutes. The home defence caught napping there and John Demspter is shown a yellow card by the referee.

It's all Crawley at the moment and Kettering are under the cosh after conceding the opening goal. The Poppies are second to the ball at the moment and will need to up their work-rate before they fall further behind after another sluggish start. A spell of pressure from Kettering is relieved when the referee blows for a foul and Crawley have a chance to clear the danger.

Half-hour gone and Kettering coming into it a bit more with a better share of possession in midfield but still not creating anything threatening on the visitor's goal so far in this match. A little scrappy now as the throw-in and goal-kick count far outweighs the shot count with half-time rapidly approaching.

Rankin breaks forward and just as he shoots Geohaghon gets a foot in to block and the ball eventually falls to Lee Harper in the Poppies goal. A bit of a tangle between Gareth Seddon and Gavin Hurran, with the former reacting to a poor tackle from the latter and they both end up with yellow cards.

Half-time: Kettering Town 0 Crawley Town 1

A good start to the second-half for Kettering with more shots in the first five minutes of the period than the whole of the first 45 minutes. Brett Solkhon replaced Alfie Potter at half-time to add to the impetus.

GOAL:   Shortly after the hour-mark and Kettering are back on level terms and deservedly so as the hard-working Gareth Seddon feeds Jean-Paul Marna and the Poppies striker slots his strike into the bottom left hand corner to make it 1-1 on 64 minutes.

Kettering coming more on the offensive in the second-half and a flurry of activity at both ends keeps both defences on their toes as we approach the final 15 minutes of a much more evenly balanced match since the restart. Back to the deep ball crosses into the area and both keepers getting plenty of practice at collecting the ball in the air but not really troubled.

Ten minutes left as Gareth Seddon is replaced by Chris Beardsley for Kettering and Jamie Cook replaces Sam Rents for Crawley. More deep crosses with little threat and Isaiah Rankin is replaced by Michael Malcolm for the final five or less minutes remaining. A shot from Craig Westcarr is saved and the resulting corner is booted clear by the visitor's defence.

A last minute flurry by Kettering as first John Dempster and then Jean-Paul Marna have efforts blocked and then Marna again fires just wide of the upright as we are already well into stoppage time. A very late substitution seems a bit pointless but we also seem to have six minutes added on and it almost leads to a Poppies winner but shots from Solkhon and Geohaghon are blocked and the final whistle sounds.

A very poor first 45 minutes again for Kettering who fell behind to a sloppily conceded goal but a much improved second-half showing lead to Marna's deserved equaliser. The Poppies probably packed many more chances into the final half-hour than the previous sixty minutes but despite a strong finish by the home side it ends with a point each.

Att: 961

Kettering Town: Harper, Eaden, Geohaghon, Branston, L.Potter, Dempster, Boucaud, A.Potter, Westcarr, Seddon, Marna. Subs: Solkhon, R.Graham, Charles, Wright, Beardsley.

Crawley Town: Rayner, Gaia, Quinn, Giles, Rents, Shaw, Bulman, Hurren, Killeen, Matthews, Rankin. Subs: Cook, Nayee, Mills, Malcolm, Napper.