Hollyhead hails Poppies' 'breathtaking' second-half as Stortford are swept aside
Simon Hollyhead labelled his Kettering Town team's second-half performance in Saturday's 3-1 win over Bishop's Stortford as being 'breathtaking'.
The Poppies fought back from trailing 1-0 at the interval at Latimer Park to secure three precious points and go second in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central table.
On target for Kettering were Jamar Loza, skipper for the day Nile Ranger and Ismael Fatadjo, who was making his debut for the club.
Half-time substitute Callum Powell was named man of the match for an electrifying performance, with Hollyhead rolling the attacking dice at the interval paying dividends.
The Poppies switched to a back three at the break, and Hollyhead said: "I thought a lot of our play in the second half was, at times, breathtaking.
"Credit to them, they came with a game plan, and we always felt they were going to be difficult to break down, and we could see the danger on the counter-attack.
"We made a bold decision at half-time, we moved Eddie (Oppong) into half full-back, half wide player, and we just thought we would overload that side of the pitch.
"We also brought Callum (Powell) on to give us more energy up front, and there were some really good performances.
"I thought the scoreline at half-time flattered them, but that is football, and we all saw what happened in the second half, so full credit to the lads."
Powell is making his return to full fitness after an eight-month break due to injury, and Hollyhead is asking the club's supporters to have patience with him.
"When he came on a week last Tuesday, the expectation was high because people know what this club means to Callum, but the guy hadn't played for nine months," said the Poppies boss.
"It's not a case of just dropping back in, we are not machines, he is a human being.
"But as we have seen over the past three games, we have built him back in and on Saturday it was always the game plan, with the way we wanted to play with a front three, to get him on for 45 minutes."
The Poppies are back up to second, and trail leaders Harborough Town by just two points.
The Bees, who were held to a 2-2 draw at Leiston on Saturday, can extend that lead to five points if they can win at Redditch United on Monday night, with the Poppies back in action on Tuesday when they host rock-bottom Stamford (ko 7.45pm), who have yet to win this season.
Interview by Peter Short