Poppies return home as crucial run gets under way

The clash against the Crows, who beat the Poppies 4-3 in the reverse fixture last month, sparks a run of four home games in a row in the space of 11 days as Kettering bid to maintain their charge towards a play-off place in the Evo-Stik South League Premier.

Marcus Law’s team returned from three weeks of inactivity with an impressive 4-0 success at Stratford Town at the weekend.

And now the manager wants his team to push on at home as they look to keep up their fine form on their own patch with just one defeat to their name at Latimer Park in the league this season.

“Our home form has been the foundation for what has been a very good season so far for us,” Law said.

“So we need to keep that form going for the remainder of the campaign.

“The performance on Saturday will certainly give us real confidence and it was more like the kind of display we were producing before the defeat at Chesham, which looking back now did come at the end of a very tough week for us.

“If we can carry on like we are then we will put ourselves in a fantastic position among the teams jostling for position in the play-offs.

“That’s what the focus is on at the moment and if teams above us make a mistake or two then we will always try to take advantage.”

Law is pleased with the way his squad is shaping up for the run-in with Michael Richens, who scored a superb long-range goal at the weekend, now back in the mix while Ben Milnes made his comeback from an ankle injury as a second-half substitute.

“You look at our bench on Saturday and it was extremely strong and that’s good because it gives us the confidence to change things if we feel we need to whether it is a personnel issue or for tactical reasons,” the Poppies boss added.

“It was good to get Ben out there for a few minutes and he has his work cut out to get back into the team because Lindon Meikle has really stepped up in that central midfield role.

“And it’s great to have Rico (Richens) back, he really adds some power to the team.

“He scored a great goal but overall the squad is looking strong and that’s what you want at this time of the season.”