Long brace enough to beat Kettering

Two goals from in form Stacy Long were enough to give Stevenage another 3 points, this time at the expense of Kettering Town. In what was a scrappy and physical contest, Stevenage had to wait until just after the hour before Long smashed in his first. Kettering threw everything into trying to nick an equaliser, including sending up Nathan Abbey, but in doing that were caught on the break with Long again scoring after rounding the goalkeeper.

Graham Westley named Mitchell Cole at left back, with Scott Laird serving the last of his two match suspension. Mark Roberts returned to league action alongside Jon Ashton. Darren Murphy missed out so Michael Bostwick came into midfield with Stacy Long and David Bridges. Tim Sills had to settle for a place on the bench with GW prefering to stick with Beardsley, Boylan and Yemi up top. Kettering started the game in a 4-5-1 formation with Jean Paul Marna up front on his own. Lee Harper obviously would have been happy to take a point.

The game began slowly with Boro unable to break down the Kettering backline. The visitors had packed the midfield as well so it was difficult for Boro to get their passing game going. More often than not, the home side had to resort to playing the long ball over the top for either Boylan or Yemi to run on to. Stevenage did start getting into the game though after about 20 minutes. A well worked move ended with David Bridges shooting from just outside the box, but it failed to trouble Abbey in the Kettering goal. With Boro beginning to get into their stride, the team suffered a blow when Jon Ashton was forced off after a clash of heads with Andre Boucaud. I initially thought the worse when they both went down instantly, but both walked off to get treated. Westley brought on Byrom and moved Bostwick moved back.

The second half began much like the first. Boro probed, but couldn’t find a way past the Kettering defence. Yemi was being marked out the game and was taken off by Westley about 10-15 minutes into the second half. Tim Sills came on for his debut and made an instant impact when a crossfield ball from Bridges was headed down by Sills to Long, who finished superbly first time. A massive sigh of relief went around Broadhall Way. I felt that we could relax now, knowing how good our defensive record is this season.

Kettering threw everything forward, trying to get an equaliser. Kwemi Appiah came on to partner Marna, but still they couldn’t find a way through the Boro defence. In truth Chris Day didn’t really have a save to make in the game. The Poppies won a corner late on and allowed Nathan Abbey to go up. There was no one in the Kettering half when the kick was taken. However that failed to materialise to anything and within minutes Boro had broke up the other end with Long running through and rounding Abbey, Kanu style, before sliding the ball into an empty net. The points were ours.

3 points gained and another tricky home out of the way. Stevenage weren’t brilliant yesterday, but they dug deep against a physical Kettering side and took their chances when they came. It was a scrappy game that maybe last season would have ended in a draw, but at the moment these are the games that Boro are winning and they will need to keep that up if they are to win promotion this season. Next up is Dover at home in the FA Trophy before a tough trip to Tamworth.

Lastly, here’s a link to James Cannon’s photography work for the Kettering game. James is a contributing photographer to Stevenage and also runs a blog on his work which can be accessed here. The work is of a very high standard and is well worth a look.