Poppies boss Glover ‘satisfied’ with final friendly

Jordan Graham scores the only goal of the game as Kettering Town rounded off pre-season with a 1-0 success at Corby Town. Picture courtesy of Poppies Media

Jordan Graham’s close-range finish after 13 minutes ultimately proved decisive at Steel Park as the Poppies completed their preparations for the new Vanarama National League North campaign on a winning note.

The result and performance was a marked improvement after the 4-1 loss at Jersey Bulls last weekend and the next port of call for Glover and his new-look Poppies team is a tough opening-day test at AFC Fylde next weekend.

But the Kettering boss was, overall, pleased with what he saw in the final run-out of the summer.

“I was satisfied with certain aspects of it,” Glover said.

“I thought there was a measure of control with the three lads in midfield - Keaton (Ward), Gaz (Stohrer) and Ethan (Hill) - when they passed the ball it gave us the chance to get players in good areas further forward.

“I was disappointed we didn’t get a second goal. I had a bit of a nibble at them at half-time about being ruthless because the ball flashed across their box three or four times and someone has to put that in. But then, on the other side, we have kept a clean sheet, which is pleasing.

“Our decision-making was far better. The decision-making in Jersey was a joke, to be honest.

“Players who, nine times out of 10, would make the right decisions didn’t.

“But we spoke about it in midweek and they made the right decisions and it made the game easier.

“I am not happy with forwards flicking the ball, they should get hold of it and when they do it gives us the chance to play off them.

“We will be going to a team at Fylde next week where we might not have a lot of the ball.

“So we need to be compact but when we get it, we need to keep it and we need to be a threat.

“So I was happy because we did carry a threat, we had a bit of pace about us and we played well in good areas.”

Glover was also content with the fitness levels of his players and he feels the amount of running that he has had his squad doing during pre-season has paid off.

“We made a few changes in the second half because we have been doing a lot of running in training,” he added.

“People say it’s matches that get you fit but you have to use both now because we only have a limited time with the lads so I have incorporated a lot of running on a Tuesday.

“The lads who came off were disappointed but they looked fit so I was happy with that.”