We battled until the end

For the first 15 minutes of this game, it looked as if the 5ths were in for a real thrashing but with dogged determination and excellent keeping by the outstanding Joe Ashby, Kettering were unable to make an initial breakthrough.
The Dragons started to fight back towards the end of the first half with a slightly more even game but two early goals for Kettering in the second half, the first after a cruel deflection on the way to the goal resulted in an eventual 3-1 loss.
A superior Kettering side pressed for most of the game but The Dragons were not overawed and James Gray playing for some of the time in a more unusual central position once again provided a fine game. The welcome return on the right of Nick Teesdale allowed some fine attacking and linked with Kristian Rushworthy who once again turned in a good performance, showing more confidence and commitment to win the loose ball.
It is testament to the 5th team that even when they went three goals down, they continued to take the game to Kettering, getting one back through a fine placed shot from Elliot Bates and indeed had the majority of the play for the last 15 minutes.
Once again they failed to make the most of their chances and too often what could have been a flowing forward move stalled as their players failed to move the ball on fast enough- there is still room for improvement.