Loan man Gyasi to the rescue as shot-shy Poppies fight back to secure draw at Leighton Town
Substitute Michael Gyasi saved Kettering Town's blushes with his second half strike, as a well-organised Leighton Town side held their visitors to a 1-1 draw in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central on Tuesday night.
Kettering had this very problem last season where non-threatening sides would put all 11 players behind the ball - and newly promoted Leighton were no different, especially after they took the lead inside three minutes to give them something to hold on to.
Tom Leak was unable to clear a bouncing ball which first fell to Charlie Pattison, who then played through Eni Agemoh-Davies to slide the ball home from close range.
From there Kettering looked unable to break down their hosts with a number of forced passes and under-weighted crosses being repelled with ease by anyone in a red shirt.
Keeper Carlos Simeon did need to make a fine save to keep out Eddie Panter on 13 minutes, while a Harvey Peters header hit the post on 25.
A last ditch clearance was needed from Sam McClelland to deny Leak's rebound effort from bouncing over the line.
But these opportunities was not a satisfactory reflection of the amount of possession the Poppies had in the first half.
They continued to enjoy possession of the ball in the second half and appeared to have scored through captain Lawson D'ath on 51 minutes, but his thunderbolt of a strike was ruled out for an earlier offside decision.
Kettering continued to huff and puff and were able to snuff out any potential threat of a break with D'ath marshalling the backline whilst the youthful Peters was in fine form.
Managers like it when their substitutes makes a difference, and that is exactly what happened when Gyasi was introduced on the hour mark.
Just eight minutes later he scored the equaliser when the ball found him inside the area and he buried his shot against the hand of Simeon and onto the post and in.
The Bedford Town loanee, signed at the weekend, forced another tremendous goal-saving block on 80 minutes as Kettering looked for a deserved winner that never came.
The best chance to snatch the points came on 84 minutes when a perfect first time cross from the right from Tai Flemming found the run of substitute Shaun Jeffers but his header couldn't even find the target.
These are the kind of tests that a potential new manager will have to overcome quickly - with former Hednesford and Stratford Town manager Gavin Hurran spotted in the crowd for a second game in a row!
A trip to old foe Leamington is next up for the Poppies on Saturday (ko 3pm).