Glover to ‘shut the club down’ as Poppies bid to flush out the illness

The Poppies boss was delighted with the effort his players put in as they put another point on the board in their bid for survival in the Vanarama National League North by holding league leaders AFC Fylde to a goalless draw at Latimer Park last night.

Kettering had been without Lewis White and Ethan Hill due to illness at the weekend with Sam Bennett and Rhys Sharpe being the latest victims last night while Glover revealed more members of his squad played on, despite being under the weather.

The Poppies are about to head into two huge clashes as they head to fellow strugglers Blyth Spartans on Saturday before hosting Farsley Celtic next Tuesday night.

And Glover wants to ensure his players have the best chance possible of recovering.

“We need to make sure we rest and recover,” the Poppies boss said.

“No-one will train on Thursday because of the bug. We had two out of the squad on Tuesday and three played with it.

“We have got to shut the club down for a bit and I just said to them to go home, eat, rest and recover and we will pick them up on the way up on Saturday.

“It’s gone through the camp. At pro clubs they just shut the club down and tell players to go to their gyms and stay out of the way.

“We just need to do that. We won’t be in on Thursday and we will just be getting ready for Blyth.”

Reflecting on his team’s performance against Fylde, Glover added: “The staff, the club and the supporters can’t ask for anything more than what the players gave and the effort they put in.

“Sometimes we could use the ball better but Fylde are the best side in the league and their whole club is geared for promotion.

“It was difficult to single anyone out. Our goalkeeper played well, when he was called upon Harrison (Foulkes) did really well so we were happy with that and I thought Ty (Lewthwaite) held the ball up well but the nine in between them all did their job.

“We were looking at a King’s Lynn type performance earlier in the season where we knew we would have to take some pressure but we still wanted to be a threat.

“Decarrey Sheriff was ill before the game but put a shift in and Keaton (Ward) had a nice strike and I think he probably had to hit the target.

“All in all, we will take the point because we’ve played the best team in the league.”