From the moment we turned up things did not bode well.
We gathered at the blue Loughborough pitch as advised only to be informed we had to gather our belongings and march up the hill to the Universitys second pitch.
A change of formation had mixed results in the first half, whilst it freed our full backs to join in our attacks it also opened up spaces for the students to pour through at pace and put us under pressure, on balance the formation probably put us on the back foot, and we never managed to recover.
Despite a fantastic goal line save by Ellie Mulligan our goal was soon breached, and the students took advantage of our recent fragility defending short corners as the goals began to go in at alarming frequency.
For all the good saves by Kate Metcalfe and last ditch tackles by the defence, Loughborough were quicker and more alert to any loose ball and as their confidence grew the Kettering teams confidence seemed to ebb away.
The score line is hard to ignore but the team continued to fight and we did create some good chances which unfortunately we could not convert.
At the end of the game the team’s frustration was evident , yes Loughborough played well, but we know we are a far better side than this result suggests, so back to basics at training on Tuesday, some hard work and then next week we have an opportunity to show how good we can be.

Report written by Rob Mahoney