Slough of despond

It was, of course, disappointing and a hard way to end a long campaign - or "journey" as everything seems to be these days. On the night we made too many mistakes, and probably burned too much fuel in the first half trying to get back in the match. It was a bridge too far after an exhausting run of games. There’s not too much more to say about it.  By Monday night, another club will be rueing the freakish nature of this division, where nearly 100 points isn’t enough to guarantee promotion.  Ten years ago, exactly the same total as this season won us the league by 17!

It has been a weird season in so many ways. We’ve grown used to winning by wide margins, along the way discovering that Brett should have started taking penalties as soon as Craig Norman gave up the gig. While Brett was making a late run for the over 35s Golden Boot (golden slipper?), we ended up with a scarcely believable 122 in the league alone.  If this is some kind of record for a team that didn’t go up, it would be a typically Kettering kind of claim to fame, like finishing runners up in the Conference the most times (probably, it sort of feels true). So whilst it would have been good to take the season one game further, there’s a lot to look back on fondly – unless of course you prefer to air your views on social media, in which case the big question is – why hasn’t this dismal showing earned Law the sack?

It was also the season in which the curtain finally fell on Rockingham Road, and we all had to finally move on. Talk continues about a new site in the town.  All we need is for Kettering BC, who own the land, to make a grand community-minded gesture in return for some hard cash. Everyone hold your breath…

If they need any encouragement, they should have sent someone down to Slough to see yet another club benefitting from local council support.  For the umpteenth time since our departure from RR, we looked around an away ground and thought, yeah, we’d take this. I’ve even found myself thinking that at some right old sh*tholes but Slough’s Arbour Park definitely ticks the boxes. Plenty of seating, two covered ends, 4G pitch, outdoor bar and balcony!

And somehow, in the overcrowded south east in a town adjacent to the M4, a main railway line and Heathrow, the local worthies managed to find a site within walking distance of the town centre and resisted the urge to cram in a few two bedroom rabbit hutches or a new warehouse instead. Quite remarkable I think you’ll agree, and obviously an example of the kind of misplaced priorities that you could never accuse KBC of.