Hall hopes to enjoy his time at Poppies after a dream debut

James Hall scored twice on his debut for Kettering Town

The frontman had been heavily linked with a move to Latimer Park after his contract at fellow Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division side St Neots Town had been terminated by mutual consent last week.

Hall watched the Poppies suffer a 3-1 defeat to Merthyr Town last weekend but his move was completed in time for him to make his bow in the midweek clash with Frome Town.

And his impact was immediate. He scored the second and fourth goals in Kettering’s 4-1 victory.

It was the perfect start to what Hall hopes will be an enjoyable time with the Poppies.

The striker said: “Two goals on your debut isn’t bad is it?

“They were two easy goals but they all count and we got the win so it was all in a day’s work.

“Before I came here I was out injured for a month or so with a calf problem.

“But I left St Neots and when (Poppies’ technical director and scout) Alan Doyle brought me in here and I spoke to Marcus (Law) and they told me about the club and where they wanted to go, I couldn’t turn it down.

“For me, I want to kick on as a footballer.

“I am 26 now, I’m getting on a bit and I want to enjoy my football.

“The lads welcomed me into it on Tuesday and to play up there with Rene (Howe) and Matthew Barnes-Homer and to get the chance to run in behind, I couldn’t have asked for anymore.”

The midweek success breathed new life into Kettering’s season after all hope looked to have gone at the weekend.

The defeat to Merthyr had left Kettering a huge 11 points off the top-five places.

But that gap was immediately reduced back down to eight with the victory on Tuesday against a Frome team who are also in the hunt.

The Poppies will now have to watch on on Saturday as everyone else plays before they do as they head to Hayes & Yeading United on Sunday for a clash that will be played at Beaconsfield SYCOB’s home ground (1pm).

It still looks like a tall order for the Poppies to threaten the play-off places but Hall has full belief that they can push on from this point.

“I came to watch against Merthyr and it was disappointing but it’s all about having that belief that we can go forward,” he added.

“Hopefully we can kick on. Our next four games are all winnable, we need to win them and we have the firepower to do that.

“We gelled together on Tuesday and now all we can do is go to Hayes & Yeading on Sunday and try to carry on with the way we played against Frome.”