Trouble at the Top

(Of the Pitch, that is)

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One of the first things that will occupy Lee, Lee, Lee Harper in his new job will be to get the best out of our forward players. Each has their particular talents, but we have yet to hit upon the devastating combination which will have opposition defenders both cowering, and stifling an attack of the shits. Just imagine where we would be in the league if our forwards REALLY hit it off!

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Arguably top of the pile presently is Moses Ashikodi. In his favour is his directness and eye for goal. This talent can also be known as greed! But when it is in a striker who hits the net, “Greed”, as Gordon Gekko once said, “Is Good”. What lets him down is his almost pathological inability to play alongside any of our other strikers. Give him the ball in a lone striking position and he’s as good as gold. Try to link him up with anyone and it’s shrugged shoulders and rolling eyes all round, as flicks go to no-one and the strikers spend almost the entire game standing 60 yards apart.

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Our other main threat comes from Anthony Elding. He shares Moses’s directness and eye for goal, but the main thing that lets him down is, frankly, he is too good for his teammates. He makes numerous searching, intelligent runs that are almost never spotted by anyone else in a Kettering shirt.

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Next in line is our favourite son, and longest serving player (!), Jean Paul Marna. Even though criticism of JP is tantamount to blasphemy at Rockingham Road, even his most ardent fan (Cough – Imraan - Cough) must admit he is bringing very little to the party these days. His lazy, mazy dribbles almost always end with him being dispossessed. He wanders around in a bit of a daze, and seems just a bit to content to be a bench-warmer. Yet, we all still love him, which can’t be said for –

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Poor old Damian Spencer, who seems to have slotted into the “handy scapegoat” position gladly vacated by Iyseden Christie. I think much of the ridiculous anger (even for our pop-side) aimed at Spencer is decidedly unfair. For most of his time here he was used as a lone striker, when his obvious talent is to win headers and flick-ons for a second striker. And no-one can argue that he doesn’t win the majority of headers he goes for.

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Lastly we have Francis Green, who despite some good games has often looked lightweight when playing down the middle. Seemingly another player to add to our “bit-part-forward-cum-winger-type list. When he first came here he took players on, but these days seems more content to lay the ball off rather than commit the defender.

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There’s also Danny Thomas, but his style of play is so similar to Francis’s that it seems unnecessary to rewrite the previous paragraph.

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So, there you have it. Plenty of striking talent, which needs shaping into a potent force.

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We’ve done our bit - over to you, Lee!