Poppies will experiment in remainder of campaign

Marcus Law and John Ramshaw are set to continue experimenting with their squad in the remainder of the season

The Poppies’ play-off hopes are now virtually dead and buried after a campaign that has ultimately disappointed on the pre-season expectations laid out by the club.

Kettering head to Frome Town this weekend having booked themselves a final clash with Corby Town in the NFA Hillier Senior Cup next month with an impressive 1-0 victory over Brackley Town at Latimer Park on Tuesday night.

That game gave boss Law and assistant Ramshaw another chance to look at a couple of the club’s promising youngsters with the highly-rated Jack O’Connor producing an excellent display while Ben Baker also impressed when he came off the bench.

The likes of Bleu McNeil and Ethan Lee were unused substitutes in midweek.

But Ramshaw expects them to all get an opportunity before the end of the campaign as the attention begins to switch to next season.

“The fat lady is definitely in full voice so now is the time to experiment, which we have started doing in the past couple of weeks by giving the kids a chance,” Ramshaw said.

“That will continue to happen with a view to building on next season.

“We already know what these boys are capable of because they have featured for us already this season.

“Jack made his full debut just over a week ago and was outstanding and he was a bit unlucky not to be in the starting 11 last Saturday.

“But he stamped his authority on the midfield on Tuesday which, for a 17-year-old kid, is absolutely amazing.”

As far as this weekend is concerned, Ramshaw is expecting a tough test against a Frome team who sit a place and four points above the Poppies in the table.

And Ramshaw believes Frome will be keen to set the record straight after they were beaten 4-1 at Latimer Park towards the end of January.

“It’s going to be a very tough game,” the Kettering assistant-boss added.

“I think they are one of the best teams we have had up here this season. We beat them 4-1 and it looked like a slaughtering but they were an excellent side that night. We just scored goals at the right time to kill them off.

“So, yes. It’s going to be a tough one and I am sure they will be smarting from the fact that they came to our ground and performed very well but went away with a 4-1 hiding.

“They will want to set the record straight on Saturday but we will look forward to it.

“We have to try to finish as strong as possible and get as many points as we can.”