Kettering Town boss Cox happy to throw loanee Joshua straight in

Paul Cox believes Kevin Joshua will be better having been “thrown in” for his Kettering Town debut at the weekend.

The young defender was included in the Poppies’ starting line-up after joining on a month’s loan from Sky Bet Championship club West Brom.

The 20-year-old got an assist to his name as he set up the opening goal for Callum Powell and went on to play a key role in gaining a clean sheet as Kettering beat Curzon Ashton 3-0 at Latimer Park to move up to eighth place in the Vanarama National League North.

Another new signing, Irish striker Michael Conlon, also made his debut for the Poppies as he came off the bench late on.

And boss Cox believes both players made a positive start to life at Latimer Park.

“It’s tough sometimes when you come out of nowhere and get thrown in,” the Kettering manager said.

“We have kept our eye on Kevin for a while now, we know one or two people at West Brom who rate the boy really highly and people would have seen the positive comments from the West Brom fans about him when the move was confirmed.

“I just think throwing him in would have done him the world of good. We will see him getting better and stronger as he plays more games.

“Michael is a young kid who has a good goalscoring record and a good pedigree in the Irish league. Once again, we are buying into potential.

“But both boys did well, I think it was a positive start for both of them.”

The Poppies, meanwhile, will be playing a friendly at Grantham Town tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Kettering have said their squad will include “players returning from injury, fringe players and trialists”.

The game kicks off at 7.45pm and admission is £5 for adults, £3 for concessions, £1 for under-18s and under-14s accompanied by a paying adult will be admitted for free.