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Kettering Town v Saints XI, 7.45pm. 28/7.


Colinjb
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Anyone going? No idea what team we'll be putting out but should be a nice chance to see how the youngsters (and maybe Puncheon?) fare against a not dreadful Kettering Town side.

 

£10 a ticket for adults at Rockingham Road.

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http://www.conferencegrounds.co.uk/kettering_town.htm

 

Says Rockingham Road Terrace is the away end....still juggling with my schedule but that should be two :-)

 

I really wouldn't worry about the need for segregation.

 

Having said that they pulled in 1,600 for a game against a Leicester City XI.... although 900 of those were Leicester fans.

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I thought they'd just announced they were moving to the Rushden ground, so may be wortnchecking exactly where its being played.

 

It's been confirmed at Rockingham Road. (The Elgoods Brewery Stadium....)

 

We may also be seeing a familiar face tomorrow night. It seems that Phil Ifil, who played for us on loan back in 2007 is currently on trial at Kettering after he was released by Dagenham and Redbridge.

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Sorted - anyone up for a beer beforehand? I'm driving a couple of hours afterwards but would be good to meet anyone who's going...they have a social club or there's a pub called the Beeswing 5 minutes away according to the link I put up the page a bit?

 

Looking forward to it mate. Would be good to see any other Saints who have bothered making the trip, Will hopefully be there for about 6.15 or so.

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im going, along with my old man and a mate, looking forward to it. The beeswing is the pub both sets of fans use before a game, if any saints fans want to go there beforehand im up for it.

 

Certainly more than a couple of us meeting there - be good to see as many as possible.

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We may also be seeing a familiar face tomorrow night. It seems that Phil Ifil, who played for us on loan back in 2007 is currently on trial at Kettering after he was released by Dagenham and Redbridge.

 

Surprised how far he's fallen, always quite rated him when we had him (in the play off season?)

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Just got back and thanks to my forum friends for the company.

 

0-0

 

Keep an eye on No.11 - think it was Hisgrove? He looks like a smurf but he's quality on the wing. Definitely could be an impact player for us very soon as he runs at defenders and is full of running.

 

Great showing from Saints fans. I think there was 10 of us.

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Yep, really enjoyed that tonight.

 

Lloyd Isgrove, number 11. As Dune says, good quality on the wing. A little lightweight but there were times when Kettering doubled up and still couldn't contain him. Ex Saint and Poppies trialist Phil Ifil had a particularly torrid time against him at right back.

 

Aaron Racine was pretty good. Commanded the team well from the back and got stuck in very well.

 

We missed two guild edged chances early on. Sam Hoskins put the ball over the bar in front of the open net and one of the defenders did similar from another ball squared in. Kettering came back at us after that but considering it was our 'development' team against a Kettering team that was only a few lads short of full strength it was extremely encouraging, the Steward in fron of me was quite surprised that the team out tonightr was just our 'kids.'.

 

Jack Stephens was.... a little dissappointing sadly. Was caught flat footed a few times and made a few clumsy tackles on Kettering's best player; Their number 8 Adam Strachan. If you had to pick the lad who had played in league 1 and had been chased by one or two premiership sides it wouldn't have been him.

 

A nice evening out, it was good to put a few faces to names as well.

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Was Mills any good?

 

Hadn't noticed if he was playing actually. If he did then he certainly didn't stand out. A lot of the players followed the academy template of 5 - 5.5 ft tall and blonde so it was almost a little tricky to tell them apart!

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Mills was all right at the start but one Kettering got what was going on he lost it a bit.

 

Number 4 was quality, a really good anchor man in front of the defence. The 2 cb's were all right both strong but sort of down on overall skill... But the no 11 kid was really good!

 

Last odd one, felt so sorry for the no 10 guy as he was the whipping boy of the team, he didnt seem to have a defined role in the midfield so got shouted out when some thought he should be forward and some thought he should drop back and he didnt decide (fake do prado without being good)

 

Still a fun day out

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Good fun evening - reminder to self to do this more often!

 

Part of the fun was identifying who was playing....the programme that had been printed covered their three pre-season friendlies (Coventry & Leicester the other two) and the Saints probable squad looked like a Skate team sheet only in that only seven were listed...I guess the print off from our U21 web page. I'd had a rare attack of efficiency and printed off the Academy page as well and trying to identify players from a grainy black & white print out became part of the evening fun.

 

Kettering surprised me...they were better than I'd been expecting and, whilst muscular, did play a passing game. our kids, Racine excepted, were bounced off fairly easily in the physical stake.

 

One or two comedy moments...Kettering brought on a centre forward towards the end who made Peter Crouch look both short and coordinated...I swear one of our identikit short, fair-haired midfielders brushed his head on his b*llox when he ran through his legs without ducking! Another comedy moment when Jack Stephens had his shirt literally ripped from his back exposing the heart monitor/gps(?) bra like thing that they were all wearing...many comical comments from the locals who were unfamiliar with the concept!

 

As reported a 0-0 draw but far from boring - with a little more composure the youngsters could have had two or three in the first half hour but it's good to relate that our 'development' team play a really nice brand of football and keep trying to play the same way all through even when being pressurised. Both keepers looked good and commanding - we thought the first one was Jack Dovey but small thumbnails are not the greatest means of identification! Racine was a real leader and commanding in his marshalling of the defence...they had a few chances but only rarely were we troubled in to saves and the keeper(s) were up to that.

 

Sorry - work is busy so this is a bit patchy - had a good evening meeting the assembled Saints supporters in the pub first...wish we'd stayed next to the nice guy with the grandson during the game -he lived 200 yds from Staplewood &, I'm sure knew all who were out there.

 

I'm happy - our future style of play looks attractive and assure and there were certainly individuals out there who looked to be good enough to step up..just wish I could identify them :-)

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Agree with all of the above, and it was nice to see a few people from this thread albeit briefly at the end.

 

For me Lloyd Isgrove really was the star of the show, most of our attacking moves went through him and he has pace to burn. If I had to pick one of the team who will make it successful, it would be him.

 

Also impressed with both of our centre backs- they stood up extremely well against big strikers and kept a pretty tight ship.

 

Both teams could have easily scored 3 or 4 if the quality of finishing was better, but overall it was a very evenly matched game. As somebody has already pointed out, Kettering were hardly a hoof it and hope team, they kept the ball on the ground and played an attractive passing game, as they have done for quite a few years now.

 

Despite being a goalless draw it was an enjoyable evening, but sad as a local to see potentially the last game at Rockingham Road.

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