McDonald in plea to supporters as Poppies make long-awaited return to Latimer Park

Banbury United are the scheduled visitors this weekend (ko 3pm) for what will be the Poppies' first home game for more than two months.

Kettering's most recent match at Latimer Park was way back on December 20 last year when they were 3-0 winners over Royston Town, with all fixtures since then having been postponed due to either a frozen or waterlogged pitch.

It has meant McDonald's men have had to play their past five fixtures all away from home, but after winning three on the spin the Poppies have maintained their outside chances of claiming a place in the play-offs come the end of the season.

If they are to do that, their home form will be key, especially as 10 of their remaining 15 matches will be played at Latimer Park, starting with Saturday's date with the in-form Puritans.

Banbury are ninth, three points better off than the Poppies, and are on a run of five staight wins, with their most recent success a 1-0 home win over Bury Town last weekend.

Speaking after Saturday's 3-1 win at St Ives Town, McDonald told the Poppies' YouTube channel: "We want to keep it going, and on Saturday we need as many in the ground as possible to cheer these boys on.

"I don't know if we have won four on the trot this season, we have won three now so if we can get everyone behind us on Saturday, and we can get another positive performance in.

"If we do that then we are going to get a result, and if we can go and perform as we did at St Ives then we give ourselves a fantastic chance of extending this winning run.

"But Banbury are flying as well, they are doing really well and are probably in a similar vein of form to us and will believe, by their finger-tips, that they are still in and around that position in the league where it's not over right now.

"What we have is fantastic fans and I need them to come out on Saturday."

The Poppies are 11th in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central, eight points off the top five, and they also have games in hand on all of the teams above them, including Banbury.

McDonald knows it is going to be a tough ask to claim a play-off place, especially after losing the services of two key players last week, with defender Will Glennon departing for Leamington and midfielder Ryan Inman leaving the club to move to Australia.

It meant the Poppies could field a 15-strong squad at St Ives, but McDonald said: "I have said to the lads now that we have to be focused. We have got more games to come and we have got a threadbare squad at this moment in time.

"It is difficult bringing players in because we need experience, and we are at the stage of the season where it's hard because good players are on contracts at clubs. But we are confident at this moment in time.

"The club hasn't had the best of starts to the season, there has been a manager change, but what I wanted from the boys when I came in is what they are doing.

"That is in terms of they are playing for the club, they are sticking together and they are fighting for each other.

"This is a new group, it's a young group, but we are giving the supporters that little bit of hope and enjoyment on a Saturday afternoon.

"Fingers crossed the weather is good this weekend and we can get back home on Saturday and show them all how good we have been."

And he is also keen to bring in extra bodies, adding: "Hopefully we will also try and get one or two players through the door, and we have been working so hard to do that.

"We need the right players though, because we have had a couple in on loan that haven't worked, and we don't really want that now.

"We need players to come in and be ready to play, and be ready to be on this journey we are on now."