FM23 / KETTERING TOWN / 150 YEAR ANNIVERSARY / NON LEAGUE - PREMIER LEAGUE
VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH /SEASON 1
With our incoming transfers all complete it was time to begin the season. Have you signed any of these in your saves? How did they turn out? Let me know!
We had an unbeaten pre-season so confidence was running high with goals coming from lots of our new signings including Jayden Smith but also from other trialists, Enock Asante being one of them.
A player I remember from my FM22 save as he was leading my line in that save for the first couple of seasons.
He was offered a contract but ended up signing for Banbury United in the same division. He ended up with 16 leagues goals from 40 games for Banbury and an average rating of 7.19. One that got away potentially??
August & September 2022
An opening day defeat away from home against promotion favourites Flyde got our season underway.
Disappointing but the performance was encouraging and would lead us to 2 wins, 2 draws and one defeat for the remainder of the month.
On-loan Andrew Oluwabori (on-loan from Peterborough) & Decarrey Sheriff both starting the season well.
September would prove to be fantastic with 5 wins and one defeat putting us in the playoff positions. A nice home win against Ware also helped us progress to the 3rd qualifying round of the FA Cup.
Our superstar striker in Jayden Smith starting to find the net on a regular basis was also promising and leading us to believe that playoffs and possibly promotion was on the cards!
October, November, December 2022
Our strong form continued through October & November with an FA Cup victory against Swindon Town (Sky Bet League Two) on penalties.
When then got drawn against Lincoln City (Sky Bet League One), 3 divisions higher so it was always going to be a touch ask.
A 0-0 draw at home, it felt like that was probably our best opportunity gone for a potential money spinning Third round tie against one of the Premier League's big boys.
It was!
The replay resulted in a 4-1 defeat and with that our FA cup run was gone. Getting that far and having replays against both Swindon & Lincoln had provided some much needed revenue to the club coffers.
I was praying that come the end of the season, whether it be in the National League North or promotion to the National League, the board would pass some of that on to me to use in the available wage budget to really strengthen the team.
That result then saw us lose a further two games so we had then lost 5 on the spin. Not good!
An upturn in our final two games of the calendar year saw 2 much needed victories. Both by a score line of 3-1.
Sitting just outside the playoffs it had still been a good first half of the season.
January - April 2023
January didn't start great with 2 defeats but we then started to go on a great run from February where finishing up at the end of April we had gone unbeaten in 15 games (11 wins & 4 draws).
That form had shot us up the table and resulted in us finishing in 2nd place. Way above the expectations at the start of the season.
We'd had a great tussle with Scarborough Athletic but ultimately finished up a point behind them on 89 points.
May
Finishing 2nd had allowed us a bye and a home tie in the Semi Final.
Up against Chester we had too much for them and a 4-2 victory set us up for a final against Spennymoor.
As you can see we progressed and gained promotion on penalties. However that doesn't tell half the story of the game!
They had been leading up until the final minute and with the last kick of normal time, that man, our man, Jayden Smith produced an equaliser that would take us into extra-time.
Pandemonium not only in the stands but everywhere (home office included ).
It then came down to penalties where the Kettering boys prevailed.
Season One done and promotion achieved.
Onto the Vanarama National League next season where we would be coming up against the likes of Wrexham, Notts County & Barrow.
Chairman.....Show me the money!