Poppies must be ready to compete against ‘formidable opponents’ Alfreton

Kettering Town boss Lee Glover. Picture by Peter Short

That is the view of manager Lee Glover as the Poppies prepare for what will be a fourth away game in a row in the Vanarama National League North.

It has, as it has been for a number of clubs, been a bit stop-start for Kettering since the start of December with two cold snaps either side of Christmas playing havoc with the fixture list.

Last Saturday’s home clash with Curzon Ashton became the latest postponement at Latimer Park, although Kettering will hope to play their first home game in nearly two months when they are due to host Boston United next Tuesday evening.

Before then, however, they face a tough test against an Alfreton side who are unbeaten in their last five league matches and were 3-1 winners at Latimer Park back in August.

Alfreton currently sit in mid-table while the Poppies remain in the relegation zone, although they are now level on points with both Buxton and Boston who are immediately above them,

Kettering are unbeaten in their last three away games having struggled massively on the road in the first half of the campaign.

But Glover knows his team must be ready to “compete” when they head up to Derbyshire this weekend.

“I have watched Alfreton’s recent game at Chorley and they are a big side,” Glover said.

“Their season has probably been a bit indifferent to what they wanted it to be but they beat us 3-1 at our place when we were really naive in the second half.

“They have some quality players for this level so they are a very formidable opponent.

“If you go up there and you’re not competing, you’re going to come unstuck very, very quickly.

“So the first thing for us is to make sure we compete and win our battles.

“We need to compete with them because teams can go under against them.

“It’s a nice, big pitch which should suit some of our players and we are hoping that we can get the ball and hurt them on the second phases and transitions.

“We have been okay recently with that so it’s a question of whether we can do it again and try to open them up a bit.”