'No pressure' as Kettering Town get set for tough test at Kidderminster

Callum Stead runs with the ball during Kettering Town's 1-0 win over Gloucester City on Good Friday, in which he scored the only goal from the penalty spot. Picture by Peter Short

The Poppies head to Aggborough to take on the fourth-placed Harriers still in with a chance of claiming a play-off place in the Vanarama National League North.

Kettering bounced back from their shock home defeat to Guiseley last Tuesday with a 1-0 success over Gloucester City at Latimer Park on Good Friday.

That win moved the Poppies back up to eighth in the table, just a point adrift of the play-off places with five games to go.

Kettering are seen as one of the outsiders to sneak into the top seven this season while Harriers have been in the upper echelons of the table all season and they also enjoyed a superb run in the Emirates FA Cup before being knocked out by Premier League side West Ham United.

It represents one of the toughest of tests for the Poppies but Simpson insists the players and staff are “enjoying” the position they find themselves in and he has urged the squad to “be brave” when they step out in front of what should be a big bank holiday crowd.

“The players have been class all year but going somewhere like this, you should relish it,” the first-team coach said.

“We will go and try to get on the front foot and give it a go.

“It’s a lovely position to be in, we are all enjoying it.

“I’m not going to stand here and lie and say we don’t want to get in there. We would love to get in there but every game is a massive challenge.

“No-one in and around us is going to go and win five games in a row and I will eat my hat if they do.

“So you just have to worry about yourselves, one game at a time and see where it takes you.

“We just want the boys to be brave. We don’t care if they make mistakes. We would rather go down swinging, playing our way and trying to build something instead of having a basketball game, which is what it is at the minute.

“We have players who can move the ball, technically good players and we have pace that can cause other teams problems.

“All we will ask of the boys is that they go and play with freedom. Can we guarantee it will work? No. But there’s no pressure on us going to Kidderminster away.”