Leese’s Poppies are ready to get going in tricky clash at Stamford

The Poppies make the short trip up the A43 to take on Graham Drury’s Daniels in the campaign curtain-raiser at the Zeeco Stadium tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm kick-off).

And it’s a clash between two clubs who endured very different campaigns in the 2022/23 season.

Stamford enjoyed an outstanding few months in the Northern Premier League Midlands, eventually finishing nine points clear of Halesowen Town to be crowned as champions and secure automatic promotion to Step 3.

Kettering, meanwhile, were relegated from the Vanarama National League North on the final day of the season and have since gone through a summer a major change with owner Ritchie Jeune stepping back from the day-to-day running of the club with a new management committee now in charge while the experienced Leese arrived at the beginning of June following the departure of former boss Lee Glover.

Leese feels his new-look squad are ready for the big kick-off but he is well aware that they face a tough early test.

“As a team, Stamford will have real momentum,” the Poppies manager, who saw his team round off pre-season with a 3-1 win over MK Dons Under-19s last Thursday and a 1-1 draw against Spalding United on Saturday, said.

“When you come up like they did, you are used to winning and Graham has a group there who will have a good understanding of how they play.

“So they have that momentum but they will have quality. You don’t get promoted like that without having some quality.

“It’s going to be difficult, we are away from home as well.

“But I expect us to be prepared for that and I think we will have good support which is important to us as well.

“We need that support as we go into a new season in a new league.

“But we will be ready. We will give it our best shot.

“Obviously, we would be delighted if we could go and pick up all the points but going there and not getting beaten, in the current circumstances, wouldn’t be a bad effort.”