Kettering Town must 'put the wrong right' on Good Friday

Just over a week ago, the Poppies were on the back of a 2-0 home win over York City, a third victory in a row which had left the Kettering supporters dreaming of securing a play-off place in the Vanarama National League North.

Fast-forward a week and, on the back of a 1-1 draw at Farsley Celtic, the Poppies were beaten 2-0 by bottom side Guiseley at Latimer Park.

It was a surprising setback but, as the big Easter weekend approaches, Kettering are still in the hunt for a top-seven finish as they sit just a point adrift of the play-off places with six games to go.

The clash with Gloucester is followed by a tough trip to Kidderminster Harriers on Easter Monday.

And boss Culverhouse said: “We have got to come back in on Friday and try to put the wrong right.

“It’s going to be hard, the pitch will be like it is and we have got to get back on the horse.

“We do a lot of possession stuff and getting the ball down in training but our surface doesn’t allow us to do that. I’d like a better surface, of course, because it would allow us to control the game.

“I always want my sides to be in control of the game and that means having the ball.

“At the moment here, the turnover of the ball is very quick and Guiseley did it better than us on Tuesday.”

A flat performance in midweek brought with it a flat atmosphere on the terraces.

And Culverhouse knows it’s up to him and his players to galvanise the supporters again for the final stages of what has, so far, been a very respectable campaign for the Poppies.

“It’s up to us to give the fans something to cheer about and I don’t think we did that enough the other night,” the Kettering manager added.

“We have got to be better. The fans have been superb for us since we came through the door.

“They have cheered us on and we just weren’t at it on Tuesday.

“We were flat, the crowd were flat and hopefully on Friday we will be better.”