Match 6. Corby Town v Leamington

Saturday 22^nd September 2012 @3pm

FA Cup 2^nd Qualifying Round

CORBY TOWN 3-2 LEAMINGTON

Steel Park, Rockingham Road, Corby

Admission: £10

Programme: £2.50 (A5 40pp)

Attendance: 516

FOOD: KFC in Kettering

DRINK: Guinness in plastic pint glass £2.70

I dropped the family off at Kettering Retail Park after sampling the new KFC Nacho Stacker Burger. It was a 20 minute drive to the Rockingham Road Sports Complex.  There is a large car park after driving along the track past the Rugby & Tennis clubs.  The new ground is on the right; it is built alongside the former ground which still has goal nets up so I assume is still in use for youth matches as well as athletics.  The clubhouse is in the Fitness Sports complex where again I assume was the same location as before.  As it was a warm sunny day and Leamington brought a large support with them, the area outside the bar was open where I could see the old turnstiles still in situ.  The new turnstiles are on the right hand corner of the ground.  The aforementioned bar is on the left, together with a food bar with an extensive menu and the toilets.  The back of the old main stand now doubles up as the changing rooms with the entrance to the pitch through one of those foldaway tunnels.  The Main stand is on the opposite touchline and although architecturally quite pleasing on the eye, it looks smaller than the old stand.  There is a terrace behind the top goal, covering the whole goal line and about a dozen rows deep.  It does look like a stadium that got half built then tarmac the rest as they run out of funds.  There is room to extend if they rise up to the National League as they would require extra seating.

What had skipped my mind was the fact that Corby is a Scottish settlement when steel was manufactured between the 2 World Wars.  The fact that every 2^nd voice in the clubhouse had a Scottish accent threw me to start with. They were a friendly bunch as well.

I thought there may be a possible upset here, with Corby struggling and Leamington top of Southern Premier.  Within 5 minutes of the start, my prediction looked straightforward as Leamington looked a fast playing side and Corby looked hesitant in defence.  Their first goal was a quickly worked move with an interchange of passes finding Dodd on the edge of the area.  He shot low and beat the keeper just inside the near post.  Leamington continued to press during the first half an hour, but although they had a handful of shots, nothing really troubled the Corby goalkeeper.  Apart from a long range shot just over the bar, Corby were on the back foot but equalised against the run of play on 37 minutes as a cross from the right side to the far post was headed back across goal.  The keeper fumbled allowing Moreman a simple header close in.  This seemed to galvanise Corby who then ran the rest of the first half.

Corby kept the initiative for the second half and took the lead 5 minutes into the half.  A long ball forward to Moreman whose turn and speed evaded the central defence and allowed him to shoot past the keeper.  Moreman and the other striker, Semple had other chances as Leamington appeared to give in, especially when Corby made it 3 with ten minutes to go.  Moreman again receiving the ball on the right, he then dribbled inside, jinxed past 3 tackles before wrong footing the keeper.  This was a superb solo effort.  Leamington finally got their early match momentum back and put real pressure in the last 5 minutes, being rewarded with a free kick which was deflected into the net with 2 minutes left, but they ran out of time.

It took 15 minutes to get out of the car park after the match, but the journey back was uneventful and was back home for just after 7pm.