Kettering kicked off on a very wet Saturday afternoon and before Broadstreet had touched the ball the Blues had scored, a great chase of their kick off resulted in them retaining the ball which was moved wide, and a couple of rucks later, Joe Daniel with a pin point Crossfield kick put Damian Conyard in at the corner and a 5 – 0 lead.
The game then became one of attrition as both sides’ defences kept the other sides attack under control, but three penalty kicks to the visitors saw them take the lead at 5 – 9 but a good Joe Daniel penalty pulled the Blues back to 8 – 9. Broadstreet then put some pressure on the Blues line and a lovely little grubber kick through saw their winger score in the corner and a good conversion from the touchline saw them stretch their lead to 8 – 16 which remained the same through to the half time whistle.
With the weather easing a bit but in very murky conditions the Blues started the second half in a hurry and it was no real surprise as they scored another try as they stretched the visitors defence and from a perfectly placed Crossfield kick, this time from fly half Bruce Keir and again Damian Conyard was perfectly placed to score the try, Daniels conversion hitting the post to make the score 13 – 16 to the visitors.
Both sides tried valiantly to let the ball do the work but the weather conditions dictated that this wasn’t going to be a running game and the decisive try proved the point as with time running out the Blues threw everything at the Broadstreet line with a number of pick up and drives and finally the outstanding Alex Bayley was driven over the line for the try which Joe Daniel converted to give the Blues the lead 20 – 16.
Broadstreet tried their best to turn the game their way once more but Kettering were not to give the points away this week and held on to take the four points, but not only that but this performance showed they are now getting used to the attrition of games at this level which will hopefully see them move up the table. The game was marred though after the final whistle when one of the Broadstreet players decided to lash out for whatever reason and was awarded a red card by the referee for his pains!
Next week they Blues travel to Bromsgrove, old rivals from a few seasons ago looking to continue the good work.
The Raj Restaurant ‘Man of the Match’ – Imran Edwards