Boss Lavery slams ‘rubbish’ Poppies as late fightback rescues point against lowly Hitchin

That was the brutal verdict of dismayed Kettering Town boss Richard Lavery after his side dropped more precious points in the race for the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central title at the weekend.

The Poppies were held to a 2-2 draw at home by relegation-threatened Hitchin Town, and even that was a bonus as Lavery's side scored twice in the dying minutes to secure a 2-2 draw, having gone 2-0 down in the 83rd minute.

Jonny Edwards pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with two minutes remaining, before Lewis White scored a dramatic stoppage time equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game.

With virtually all of their rivals also dropping points in draws, it was another opportunity missed for the Poppies, who remain fourth in the table, three points behind leaders Bedford Town who drew 1-1 at home with play-off hopefuls Harborough.

The point gained from the late equaliser could yet prove to be a crucial one, but Lavery was not impressed with his team.

"One word: Rubbish," said Lavery. "I am a man of my word, I am honest, so did I enjoy watching that game from minute nought to 95? No. Although I enjoyed the last five with the two goals.

"But that was not my team out there, the DNA was totally wrong.

"Whether the players are feeling the pressure, I don't know, but there were probably only two or three players that came out of the game with any sort of joy. The rest of them were like rabbits caught in the headlights.

"We didn't even play (after going 2-0 down), we just went forward with purpose and maybe that's what we have to do from now on.

"That pitch is a disgrace, it is horrible and not made for football, and the trouble is we have footballers, we aren't a team that can go long.

"I know we did that in the last five minutes and we got joy from it, but teams are better at that than we are.

"We have the next four games, two at home, two away, and in the home games we are maybe going to have to play that way and go direct and play off the drop-downs."

Kettering were off the pace throughout, with many questioning the decision to play a direct game with West York and Jamar Loza in attack, but Lavery said that was more down to the shocking Latimer Park pitch than any instruction from him.

"I never tell the players to go long because we haven't got the right clientele, but you go on the floor on that pitch and the ball is bobbling all over the place," he said.

"You can go long with a purpose and play percentage football, but I don't think we did that in the first or second half, so the players are definitely not told to play that way.

"We work on things in training, but that pitch isn't up to a lot to play football on."

The Poppies are back on the road on Saturday when they go to 15th-placed Bishop's Stortford.

Quotes courtesy of Peter Short