The Cobblers Ladies made the short trip to Finedon to play a young Kettering side, from two divisions below.

With a strong wind blowing behind them in the first half the Cobblers knew that they had to try and kill the game off before half time and that's exactly what they did.

A dream start helped matters as with the first attack, Hayley Gallachi skilfully turned her marker just inside the box and fired a low shot past the home keeper. Although Cobblers virtually dominated the half, the quality of football at times left a lot to be desired and clear cut chances were few and far between.

Janine Holland linked well with Hayley on the left side and Laura Sutherland had acres of space, but on a narrow pitch the service from the centre of midfield was a little disjointed.

With first team keeper Serena Milenkovic missing through injury, Lily Hunt made her first team debut and bravely accepted the responsibility of playing in goal, not her usual position. The first half saw her relatively untroubled as most of the play was in the Kettering half and when they did manage to advance forward, the Cobblers defence dealt with any threat with their usual efficiency, with Hannah Cave and Natalie Smith dominant at the heart.

After twenty five minutes, left back Leanne Keane was forced to leave the field injured and was replaced by Lisa Porter with 'H' dropping back into defence. Lisa made an immediate impact as she glanced home a Janine Holland free-kick with almost her first touch.

Kettering were unable to clear the ball against the strong wind and both Lucy Bateman and Nicky Robson had the better of the midfield exchanges and both had chances to shoot from distance but the Kettering defenders worked hard to deny the chances. Just before half time, Lisa scored her second as she found herself clear of the defence and calmly lobbed the oncoming keeper.

The second half saw the tables turned and Kettering made full use of the wind and to their credit, put immense pressure on the Cobblers defence. With the home crowd urging their players on, Kettering sensed that an early goal in the half would unsettle the away team but most of their shots went wide or over and anything on target was dealt with confidently by Hunt.

Kettering did have a golden opportunity to get on the scoresheet as they were awarded a penalty for a ball to hand incident which seemed harsh. Kettering captain Charlotte Penney stepped up but fired the spot kick straight at Hunt who parried the ball back out and before Penney had a chance to put the rebound in, in nipped Hannah Cave with a vital challenge to clear the danger.

That summed up the home sides day and again, you could sense the dissapointment as the chance came and went and as the half went on, Cobblers settled down again and started to create chances to add to their lead.

With the introduction of Steph Gale, replacing Sam Christie, the Cobblers had a fresh pair of legs to trouble the home defence. Sam worked hard all game but again the goals were hard to come by for her but it's only a matter of time before she finds the net again.

Another player who played her part was Sophie Capel, again stepping up from the reserves she had a solid game at right back. Her strength and fitness proved vital and she created the fourth goal with a strong run down the wing and pin-point cross which found Janine and without breaking stride, she coolly side footed the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

The Cobblers added a fifth through Laura Sutherland as she beat her defender and floated a cross over the keeper into the far corner, although 'Suv' is claiming she meant it!!

Kettering acquitted themselves well and never gave up the fight and had they converted the penalty, the result could have been closer and to be fair, they had the better of the second half.

The Cobblers advanced to the next stage and turn their minds to the League Cup on Sunday, hosting runaway leaders and Champions elect, Ipswich Town and hope for revenge after two league defeats to the 'Tractor Girls'.

The semi final of the county cup will be played on Sunday February 17th at Bugbrooke against AFC Trinity.

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