Boss Cox will call for more as Kettering Town gear up for York City trip

Paul Cox will continue to demand more from his Kettering Town players as they gear up for a trip to York City tomorrow (Saturday).

It’s been a mixed week for the Poppies in the Vanarama National League North after a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Blyth Spartans at Latimer Park last weekend was followed by a 3-1 defeat at third-placed Chorley on Tuesday night.

The clash at York represents another tough away-day for Cox’s team, despite the Minstermen having endured an unexpected difficult start to the campaign after being one of the pre-season favourites for automatic promotion.

Manager Steve Watson left the club following their 0-0 draw at Curzon Ashton last weekend with John Askey appointed as interim boss for the remainder of the season.

The Poppies will provide his first opposition at York’s new LNER Community Stadium and Kettering manager Cox will be heading into that game looking for more from his squad.

Cox maintains his team are ahead of where he expected them to be at this stage after making wholesale changes to the squad in the summer. They currently sit in 15th place with 15 points from 11 matches.

But he still firmly believes the Poppies can “affect this league in a really positive way”.

“The thing is that before the season started, I didn’t think we would be where we are at this stage,” the Kettering manager said.

“But we are and I want more, I want more out of the players.

“I think that’s the frustration. We came up against the team third in the league on Tuesday but we still have four games in hand on them.

“Look, you have to win those games in hand but if we go on a run like the one they are on then we are in those positions towards the right end of the table.

“To do that, we have got to be a little bit more consistent with our mindset in both boxes.

“I do think we can affect this league in a really positive way if we address some issues and the main one is being a bit more ruthless in the opposition’s penalty area.

“We are so far advanced of where I want us to be but I don’t want us to rest on our laurels and say that we have achieved something because we haven’t.

“I want more and I want the players to be greedy.

“We now have to be ruthless in both boxes. We aren’t a bad side, we are a good unit and we have some good players here.

“But football doesn’t wait around for anybody. We have got to make it happen in the final third and if we do that then I will be happier, for sure.”