Poppies pay the penalty in Maunsell Cup Final
Despite picking a full strength lineup Poppies boss Dominic Genovese saw his side waste several early opportunities and then gradually lose the initiative in the second-half as the home side put in the extra effort. In truth the home side could have won the match in normal time if it wasn't for the heroics of Paul Pettinger between the posts for Kettering. Straight to penalties after normal time ended without a goal and once again Kettering only had themselves to blame for failing to score from their allotted spot-kicks. Only Wayne Diuk of the first four Kettering penalty takers managed to find the net and regular spotkick expert Craig Norman didn't get the chance as the Bones scored their fifth to make it 3-1 and settle the contest. After the impressive performance against Northampton Town last week optimism was running high amongst the Poppies supporters that Genovese's team were beginning to gel, but after tonight's poor showing there's clearly a lot of work to do before the season kicks off a fortnight on Saturday. With the visit of Scottish Premier club Dundee on Thursday night, Genovese's players will get an early chance to prove which of their two most recent performances was the true face of the team. Let's hope it wasn't last night's showing, otherwise we could be in for a very tough season in the Ryman League. Kettering: Pettinger, Matthews, Solkhon, Norman, Lodge, Murphy, Butterworth, Diuk, Graham, Fewings, Turner. Subs: Asombang, Gordon, Boyle-Chong, Dancy, Gourlay. Posted on July 28, 2003
New signing Graham sits out start of campaign alongside NormanApparently new signing Richard Graham will sit out the start of Kettering Town's Ryman campaign alongside Craig Norman as it was only just discovered he was sent off playing for Billericay Town at the end of last season and still has to serve his three match ban. I doubt very much whether it would have affected his signing for the Poppies but it's certainly something the club should have found out beforehand and not three days afterwards. Poppies boss Dominic Genovese is hoping the upcoming match against Rothwell Town in the Maunsell Cup counts towards one of the suspended matches (for both Norman and Graham). Posted on July 28, 2003
Poppies earn 2-2 draw with Cobblers
Paul Pettinger was called into action within two minutes as the Cobblers were awarded a penalty and ex-Poppy Lawrie Dudfield's spotkick was well saved by the Poppies keeper who then launched the attack that saw the home side take the lead. New signing Richard Graham calmly collected a cross and placed his strike beyond the reach of the Cobblers' keeper to put Kettering 1-0 up after just 3 minutes on the clock. Paul Fewings could have made it 2-0 but headed wide and the visitors drew level when Martin Smith headed home from an inswinging corner to make it 1-1. Paul Fewing almost restored Kettering's lead straightaway, but his excellent curled effort rebounded off the visitor's crossbar. Just before the half-hour mark and Lawrie Dudfield made amends for his earlier penalty miss as he cleverly danced round several Poppies defenders in the area before dispatching the ball past the diving Pettinger to give the visitors the lead at the break. The match see-sawed back into balance when Matt Murphy collected a Wayne Diuk pass and slotted home from close range 10 minutes into the second-half to make it 2-2. The Cobblers were unable to take their late chances and the match finished honours even. Result: Kettering Town 2 Northampton Town 2 Kettering Town: Pettinger, Matthews, Lodge, Solkhon, Norman, Butterworth, Murphy, Diuk, Fewings, Turner, Graham. Subs: Asombang, Hardie, Gourlay, Boyle-Chong, McKenzie, Colley, Paschalsis, Gordon, Crick, Dunham. Posted on July 24, 2003
Poppies lose match but gain another playerA fairly uninspiring encounter at Rockingham Road last night saw Kettering go down 1-0 to Stevenage Borough, with the visitors' winning goal coming courtesy of Howard Forinton. Not really much of note during the match to encourage the supporters to get excited about, but arguably the most notable event took place before the match kicked-off with the signing of forward Richard Graham.
Whether or not the 23 year-old Irishman can consistently reproduce the promising performances shown in these early preseason games only time will tell. However the early feeling amongst the supporters so far is that Poppies boss Dominic Genovese is certainly heading in the right direction in his quest to strengthen the squad in time for the big kick-off only three weeks away on Saturday. Kettering 1st half: Pettinger, Matthews, Colley, Solkhon, Norman, Diuk, Hunter, Butterworth, Turner, Fewings, Graham. Kettering 2nd half: Pettinger (Gourley), Gordon, Colley, Logan, Norman (Matthews) Paynter, Murphy, Boyle-Chong, Mackenzie, Asombang, Champelovior The preseason program continues on Thursday night with the visit of Northampton Town. Posted on July 22, 2003
QPR claim victory but Norman is the real winner
The result was secondary to the occasion though as Craig Norman got to play against a team he has supported since childhood and lined up alongside his younger brother Perry who has previously played at QPR himself. Carl Lake opened the scoring for the home side but the visitors pulled level through a piledriver from Ainsworth and then took the lead with what turned out to be the winner courtesy of Furlong. Trialist Richard Graham impressed again for Kettering following his notable performance on Tuesday against the Posh. Kettering: Taylor (Shoemake), Matthews, Lodge (Asombang), Solkhon, P. Norman (Duik), C. Norman, Lake (Murphy), Butterworth, Alford (Collins), Hudson (Turner), Graham. Posted on July 19, 2003
Encouraging start for Poppies
The trialists that took part in Tuesday night's match received mixed reviews, with Richard Graeme, Andy Lodge and Matt Murphy all looking promising, although Murphy freely admits to harbouring the desire to remain playing at a higher level if he can find another Football League club that are interested. In the absence of new signing Paul Fewings, the Poppies attack was spearheaded by Victor Asombang and Jason Turner (both already on contracts at Rockingham Road). While both strikers appear to have useful pace, it's still uncertain whether Asombang can progress into the scoring charts and whether Turner will make the step up smoothly continuing his previous scoring exploits at the Bones. One new signing that appeared to be very comfortable on Tuesday night was midfielder Garry Butterworth, who looks likely to become Kettering's 'midfield general', directing play and marshalling those around him with his customary composure on the ball. It's early days of course but with just less than a month to the big kick-off it was an encouraging start for Poppies boss Dominic Genovese and his new charges and I expect we'll be seeing one or two more new faces appearing over the next few weeks at Rockingham Road. Posted on July 17, 2003
Posh too good for Poppies
It took the visitors 40 minutes to break the deadlock and a close-in finish from Leon McKenzie gave the Posh a half-time lead. On 51 minutes they increased the lead courtesy of a blast from Newton, but Kettering pulled a goal back after a Karl Colley through ball left Turner with a tap-in a minute later. Peterborough finally made the game safe on 80 minutes when Farrell scored from close-in to make it 3-1 to the visitors in front of a crowd of 490. Kettering: Pettinger, Matthews(Gordon 46), Lodge, Murphy(Champeloviour 75), Solkhon(Colley 46), Norman(Logan 46), Diuk, Butterworth(Bryson 75), Asombang(Dancy 75), Turner, Graeme. Posted on July 17, 2003
Norman's suspension highlights squad weakness
Norman was handed a four-match ban for his red card at Barnet towards the end of last season and only managed to serve one game (home to Leigh RMI) so the remaining three are carried over into this season. The Maunsell Cup Final with Rothwell Town counts as a valid competitive fixture so Craig will only miss the first two matches of the new league season. Genovese used the first training session back (on Saturday) to assess the potential of a couple of trialists and will be talking to more transfer targets over the following weeks leading up to the start of the new season. "I'm still looking around to bring three or four more in," added the Poppies boss. "But there are a number of possibilities currently on holiday. We've got a bit of time." Posted on July 8, 2003
Dunham joins Poppies boardDave Dunham has accepted an invitation to join the board of directors at Kettering Town Football Club with chairman Peter Mallinger explaining, "We are always looking to strengthen all departments of the football club and Dave will do just that. He continued, "Dave, with his wife Pam, has been a great supporter of the Poppies in the many years I've known him. He won't need introducing to most people around Rockingham Road as he has been an invaluable help to the club in a variety of ways. He was also responsible for the recent cash injections following all the work he put in to various fundraising activities including a successful Auction Night". Dunham, a 51-year-old solicitor, has acted as the club's legal advisor while providing the voice behind the Club Call line and several other local television and radio stations. Dunham, who lives in Burton Latimer, said: "I'm first and foremost a fan and never really aspired to become a director. In other aspects I won't change. I don't see myself retreating to the boardroom. I still intend to sit in the press-box and be approachable for supporters to talk to." Dave continued, "We need to raise the club's profile and I feel I'm better placed promoting it from the inside out rather than the outside in. But whatever I do, and I have my own ideas on where we should improve our image, it will be done for the good of Kettering Town". Posted on July 2, 2003
Dunham joins Poppies boardDave Dunham has accepted an invitation to join the board of directors at Kettering Town Football Club with chairman Peter Mallinger explaining, "We are always looking to strengthen all departments of the football club and Dave will do just that. He continued, "Dave, with his wife Pam, has been a great supporter of the Poppies in the many years I've known him. He won't need introducing to most people around Rockingham Road as he has been an invaluable help to the club in a variety of ways. He was also responsible for the recent cash injections following all the work he put in to various fundraising activities including a successful Auction Night". Dunham, a 51-year-old solicitor, has acted as the club's legal advisor while providing the voice behind the Club Call line and several other local television and radio stations. Dunham, who lives in Burton Latimer, said: "I'm first and foremost a fan and never really aspired to become a director. In other aspects I won't change. I don't see myself retreating to the boardroom. I still intend to sit in the press-box and be approachable for supporters to talk to." Dave continued, "We need to raise the club's profile and I feel I'm better placed promoting it from the inside out rather than the outside in. But whatever I do, and I have my own ideas on where we should improve our image, it will be done for the good of Kettering Town". Posted on July 2, 2003
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Kettering Town drew 0-0 in the Maunsell Cup Final against Rothwell Town at Cecil St last night and in the penalty shoot-out that followed the scoreless 90 minutes, it was the Bones who came out as eventual winners.
Kettering Town earned a creditable 2-2 draw at home to 3rd Division Northampton Town at Rockingham Road tonight as Poppies boss Dominic Genovese fielded his strongest lineup yet as he continues to strengthen the squad leading up to the big kick-off.
Poppies boss Dominic Genovese somehow managed to persuade ex-QPR winger Graham to committ his services to Kettering and the signing was carried out on the pitch before the match got underway. No details have yet emerged as to what type of contract Graham has signed or how the club managed to provide the 'financial terms' mentioned as a prelude to his putting pen to paper. 
Just over 1,200 supporters turned out to see Poppies narrowly lose out 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers in Craig Norman's testamonial match at Rockingham Rd today. Kettering fielded a mixture of past and present, and possibly future players, against a virtually full Rangers first team who eventually came back from a goal deficit to claim the victory.
With their first preseason game under their belt, Kettering will get to relax a little on Saturday when they take on Queens Park Rangers in Craig Norman's testamonial match. The Poppies team will comprise of past and present players and Craig will no doubt be made captain for the day against a team he has supported since childhood days.
Peterborough Utd ended up comfortable 3-1 winners at Rockingham Road tonight in Kettering's first preseason fixture as a Jason Turner tap-in at least got the home side on the score-sheet.