Tough run for Poppies gets under way at Chorley

Kettering Town begin what looks a tough run of fixtures up to and including Boxing Day when they head to high-flying Chorley tonight (Tuesday).

Yesterday, the Poppies were handed a trip to Vanarama National League North rivals Gloucester City on November 27 when the draw for the second round of the Buildbase FA Trophy was confirmed.

It means that seven of their next nine matches will be played away from Latimer Park where they enjoyed a 4-0 victory over Blyth Spartans at the weekend, which ended a run of five games without a victory in all competitions.

The Poppies, however, will be in for a much sterner test this evening as they head north to take on a Chorley side who sit in third place and have been beaten just once in eight home league matches so far this season.

And that is quickly followed by a trip to York City at the weekend.

“It’s two big teams with healthy budgets so we know what we are going to be up against,” Kettering’s first-team coach Ben Marvin said.

“But we back our lads to turn up against anyone.

“We will go into the next game, we’ll have a game plan, we will try to play attacking football and hopefully we can come out it with a positive result.

“We want to get ourselves back up the table.”

Marvin, meanwhile, insists the search for fresh faces is always taking place as competition for places heats up at Latimer Park.

“There were some good players in the stands and some very good players on the bench on Saturday,” he added.

“But we aren’t going to stop there. We’re always looking to recruit and we’ve always got scouts at games.

“We are always looking for those gems and there are still a lot of players out of work so we are always looking to improve the squad.

“If you’ve got healthy competition, it keeps everyone on their toes and they will always go that extra yard to keep the shirt.”