Lavery wants back-to-back wins as Poppies gear up for Lowestoft test
Kettering Town boss Richard Lavery is calling on his players to produce 'back-to-back' victories when they return to Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central action on Saturday.
The Poppies entertain Lowestoft Town at Latimer Park at the weekend (ko 3pm), fresh from their hard-fought FA Cup success over Cleethorpes, and they are at home again next Tuesday against Stamford.
The cup success came off the back of an impressive 2-1 win at St Ives Town, and Lavery is calling on his team to now put a run together of wins to ensure they start climbing up the league table.
"We have some big league games coming up and we need to put a few wins on the board back-to-back," said the Poppies boss.
"We need to stay in the mix and I am looking forward to getting back into the league."
Lowestoft are currently 17th in the table, having won three and lost four in the league so far.
Lavery will once again be busy this week trying to bring in new faces, and in particular he will be aiming to bolster his squad's attacking options, feeling his players looked 'tired' as they saw off Cleethorpes.
"We looked tired and we never had a lot to change on the bench," he told Kettering Town's YouTube channel.
"I keep saying it week in, week out, I am chasing players on a daily basis because we need more attacking options.
"If we get those attacking options then we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.
"We are quite light on the bench, and that is not the bench's fault.
"They are all defenders, so if we are winning the game we can change things that way, but going forward to win games there is not much I can change at the moment."
Looking back on the win over Cleethorpes, Lavery admitted his team wasn't at its best, but feels they deserved the slice of good fortune that saw them win the tie with a stoppage time penalty.
"It is the sign of a good team when you play badly and you win," said the Kettering boss.
"It's about time we had a little bit of luck though as it has gone against us this season in a few games.
"We didn't play well, but we are in the hat.
"We have had a lot go against us in the games we have played, so it was good to get that bit of fortune."
Kettering’s reward for the win over Cleethorpes is a trip to St Ives Town, who the Poppies beat 2-1 in the league a fortnight ago.