[Chief Rum]

Sunday, September 28, 2002

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Poppies Escape Margate With Draw

DOVER-- Yes, Kettering got a point from yesterday's 0-0 draw with Margate at Crabble Athletic Ground Saturday, but it wasn't a match they will want to write home about.

Margate turned what had been a tight defensive battle in the first half into a free for all on the Poppies' goalkeeper Simon Ward, playing in his first match for the injured Ian Bowling.

Fortunately for Kettering, Ward was up to the change, facing off ten shots in total, including seven net.

Even more mind boggling was that Margate put up some of its best pressure late in the match--after the combination of having used three substitutions and an untimely injury resulted in them going it a man short during the final minutes.

In the 75th minute, reserve striker Ian Pulman, who had just come in for striker Jean-Michel Sigere in the 71st minute as the Gate's third and last sub, overextended himself on the run and collapsed ont he pitch. He had to be helped off the field, and it was later announced he had torn a groin muscle, and will miss two months or more of play.

Having used all of their subs already, the Gate were forced to go with just ten men, as if someone had been sent off. Despite this disadvantage, they continued to press on kettering and still had three or four more good opportunities on Ward before the match ended.

The Poppies seemed to have left most of their finishing power in the first half, where they took a couple good chances at Margate's keeper Phil Smith. They had a handful of runs toward the box in the second half, but the Gate's strong defense and some bad basses and miscues by the Poppies kept Smith free from having to defens any second half shots at all.

Margate got just one shot off against the Kettering defense in the first half, but nine shots in the second. Also, all seven on net shots came in the second half, forcing Ward to make a couple of brilliant saves to preserve the draw.

In the 57th minute, after defender Craig Norman headed away a Margate corner shot, the ball worked its way around the pitch to defensive midfielder Terry McFlynn, who had an open look at Ward and the net. Ward deflected his blast off to the right, but Sigere beat the defense to the ball and crossed it across the box to super-striker Phil Collins. Fortunately, Ward skated over to the other side and caught Collins full blast in time, clutching it.

In the 84th minute, in a play initiated by a free kick, midfielder Jay Saunders had the ball on the left wing. He unleashed a nice hanging pass into the box, where defensive midfielder Greg Oates had gotten behind the defense. Oates collected it and blasted it up close at Ward, who had to jump high and deflect it over the bar to knock it away.

If Ward was rusty, it wasn't all that clear. There were maybe some he should have caught instead of deflected--like McFlynn's blast in the 57th minute, but he seemed to be on top of his game otherwise. This was his first Conference match appearance ever.