Poppies heading into two 'massive' games

Marcus Law has labelled Kettering Town's two home matches over the next week as 'massive'

The Poppies return to Evo-Stik South League Premier action with back-to-back home games as they take on Chesham United tomorrow (Saturday) before welcoming Banbury United to Latimer Park next Tuesday.

Law’s team head into the double-header on the back of a good week in the cups.

Late goals from Lindon Meikle and Aaron O’Connor secured a 2-0 success over Kidsgrove Athletic in the second qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup last weekend before a much-changed line-up edged out Desborough Town 2-1 in the first round of the NFA Hillier Senior Cup on Tuesday night.

That FA Cup success resulted in the Poppies being handed a tricky trip to Evo-Stik League South side Basford United, who are unbeaten this season, a week on Saturday.

Law’s team have now won nine out of 10 matches in all competitions this season.

But, with an extended interest in the FA Cup and a busy schedule ahead of them, the manager believes that makes their league matches all the more important as they bid to maintain or improve on their current third place in the table.

“They are two massive games,” Law said as he looked ahead to the next few days.

“We have got ourselves in a good run of form in the early stages and we have got to keep it going and stay up there.

“We have managed to get through another round of the FA Cup and that means we will be playing in that next weekend while others will be playing league matches.

“So it’s vitally important we try to take the game to the opposition and come through these two home games with two positive results to keep us in the position we are in.

“We are coming into an extremely busy time. From now on, we are pretty much going to be playing Saturday-Tuesday through to November.

“And if we are fortunate to carry on in the FA Cup it will only make it even more important to take advantage of league games when they come.”

Left-back James Brighton is set to have a fitness test ahead of tomorrow's game having missed the last three matches due to a knee injury.