Grit, determination, battling spirit, any other superlatives you care to mention !

With 14 men 2 minutes before kick off the omens were not good. Fortunately a 15th man turned up in the nick of time to at least give us a full team to start with.

The early exchanges were fairly even with each team gaining and giving away ball and territory in equal measure. Despite a number of penalties Kettering suffered rom the inability to find touch, allowing Dunstablians to run the ball back each time. Fortunately Kettering's defence held firm and did not allow Dunstablians to profit from their mistakes.

With a number of Kettering players carrying knocks the final 15-20 minutes of the first half was spent camped in Kettering's 22 with a number of scrums and penalties conceded on the 5m line. Despite this late pressure the whole Team responded with magnificent endeavour to keep knocking the visitors back and turning over ball at important times. Dunstablians probably could not believe that the score was 0-0 at half time.

Half time allowed a few players to take a short break and regains their breath ready for a second half revival. Dunstablians were clearly not confident in their backs, giving them very little ball and Kettering's second half plan was to target their youthful looking 12 & 13 with their battering ram of a 12 Les Beattie. Finally getting a decent ball out to the backs the ball was shipped to Les to smash through the defence for a score under the posts.

A lapse in concentration from the re-start, with the ball knocked forward allowed Dunstablians to put more pressure on again. Cue another round of superb Kettering defence and belligerence in abundance to not only keep them at bay but to produce a second score from their own 5m line. A number of bludgeoning mauls to drive the ball forward to the 20m line and then a kick into centre field and a great chase produced turnover ball on Dunstablians 10m line. Ross Lundy pounced on the loose ball and with great strength rode a couple of tackles to score the second try.

The final 20 minutes were fairly even with Kettering's resilience wearing down Dunstablians and giving the home team a cushion which allowed them to become more expansive. The game finished with Kettering in the ascendency but no further scores.

Overall possibly one of the best defensive displays from Kettering 4s against a strong Dunstablians side. Defence wins games as they say and very true in this case.