Bridgwater relieved by FA Cup progress but demands more from slow-starting Poppies
David Bridgwater admitted Kettering Town 'made hard work' of beating Wellingborough Town 2-1 in the FA Cup first qualifying round replay at Latimer Park on Tuesday night.
The joint boss said the Doughboys were 'the better team' in the first half of an action-packed encounter, but hailed his side's 'fantastic' performance after the break as they booked a home clash with Quorn in the next round on September 19.
A penalty on the stroke of half-time from Michael Gyasi was followed by a 51st-minute strike from Theo Alexandrou to put the Poppies in control at 2-0 up, and although Borough pulled one back five minutes from time through an own goal, the home side saw the game out.
Bridgwater was pleased to progress, but he has warned his players they have to be sharper at the start of matches.
"The target was to get into next round which we have. but again we made hard work of it in the first half," Bridgwater told the KTFC YouTube channel.
"Again, credit to Wellingborough, they were the better team in my opinion, and all over the pitch they were just sharper to the ball and were comfortable on the ball, whereas we struggled.
"We managed to get into half-time 1-0 up, and they had a really good chance which their guy should have finished but he didn't.
"Then within two or three minutes, Michael Gyasi gets into the box, the keeper brings him down for the penalty, and Michael slotted it away nicely.
"So we went in 1-0 up, but we knew the performance level was nowhere near where we wanted it to be.
"We had an honest conversation, and the boys responded really well.
"Everything was better in the second half and that has set the standard now because I though we pretty much totally dominated the second half, controlled the game and had more chances.
"So we were much better, but we need to be starting games better than that.
"The boys know they can up their levels and they have to demand more from themselves and each other.
"We want to keep improving game in, game out, and the first half wasn't good enough but in the second half we were fantastic."
Kettering, who are now unbeaten after eight matches this season, are back in Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central action on Saturday when they host winless Stratford Town (ko 3pm).