Energy and effort not enough as Poppies suffer opening-day defeat
Despite seeing his side suffer an opening-day defeat, manager Richard Lavery says Kettering Town are in a much better place than they were last season and remains confident of a successful campaign.
The George Akhtar era started with a defeat on Saturday, with a 2-1 loss away at Halesowen.
First-half goals from Reece Flanagan and McKauley Manning gave the Poppies too much of a mountain to climb in the second half.
However, when Dan Jarvis nodded the ball in with 23 minutes to go, Halesowen had to endure a hairy final period to cling on to all three points.
Ten debutants made the starting XI for Kettering and there was an understandable air of naivety and inconsistency in the Poppies’ play.
Sidik Atcha's horrendous tackle after just five minutes could have potentially set Kettering back early on, but only a yellow card was produced.
Further carelessness gave the hosts their first goal as Connor Johnson upended Conor Tee right on the edge of the area. After a mini-fracas with former Poppy Adi Yussuf, Flanagan was finally allowed to take the spot kick and calmly sent Jack Thompson the wrong way.
Isiah Noel-Williams felt aggrieved not to win Kettering a penalty five minutes later when Todd Parker dived in late.
At the other end, Thompson was called in to action on 18 minutes with a fine save to deny Manning.
Tyree Wilson and Noel-Williams gave Daniel Platt catching practice on 26 and 28 minutes respectively as Kettering came more and more into the game.
But their efforts were undone just before half-time as Manning, who had worked tirelessly all half, finally found a shot from the edge of the area that evaded several bodies and went into the side netting despite a strong hand from Thompson.
Marquee signing Remaye Campbell saw an early chance go over the bar in the second half but it was the introduction of Wes Yorke and Dan Jarvis which brought Kettering to life.
The latter gave them a lifeline when a corner from the left was headed home from a tight angle.
From that moment, it was only Kettering likely to score.
Captain Ben Hart had a short range effort go just wide on 81 minutes whilst Jarvis saw his shot saved by Platt on 84.
Devon Kelly-Evans' curling effort two minutes into stoppage time also forced acrobatics from Platt.
The late onslaught wasn't enough as Kettering ran out of time on a warm day in the West Midlands.
Manager Lavery was visibly annoyed at leaving with nothing to show for his team's efforts, but was quick to reiterate he is still overall happy with his new, fledgling side's progress.
"We definitely deserved something from that,” Lavery said. “We shouldn't be 2-0 down but that's life.
"Our first goal probably came a bit too late. If we got it a bit earlier we might have had a chance.
"I'll say now, 100 per cent we have got a better team, all day long, than we had last year.
"Whether the fans say yes or no, if they're honest that was a far better performance than anything we had last year. So I know we're in a good place - yes we're probably one or two light and I will be changing that.
"Yes they've only been together for six weeks - that's not a long time.
"I guarantee there's not another manager in this league who has put a brand-new team together. I've done that and the proof is in the pudding at the end of the season."
Things don't get any easier for Kettering who entertain big spending and league newcomers Spalding United on Tuesday night at Latimer Park. Victory for Poppies would show real progress indeed.