LEISTON host Kettering Town on Saturday in the league as they look to get back on track after last weekend’s defeat to AFC Telford United in Shropshire.

Leiston will hope to have a full squad available for the game against the ‘Poppies’.

The Blues are 6th in the league standings, three points outside the play-offs currently with 11 league fixtures still to play.

Kettering Town are 4th at present, having taken 54 points from their 30 league games to date. They drew 0-0 with Halesowen Town on Tuesday night, while last Friday they lost 3-1 at Bedford Town in front of nearly 2,000 spectators.

The sides met in Northamptonshire earlier in the season, with the Blues playing well, but losing 2-1 in late November. Jonathon Edwards put the hosts in front after just 12 minutes, however, George Quantrell levelled on 79 minutes. But substitute Isiah Noel-Williams scrambled goal on 89 minutes gave Kettering the win in a rain-affected second period.

BLUES MAN OLLIE SAUNDERS SAYS...

"KETTERING are going to be a big test, of course. We went to their place earlier in the season and deserved something out of the game, so we are up for it and want to put that right.

“These are the games people want to be involved in so, as a group, we look forward to it.”

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

LEISTON first played Kettering in September 2018, with Patrick Brothers and Dominic Docherty scoring in a 2-1 win in Northamptonshire. Later that season in March 2019, Kettering scored a stoppage-time winner to go to within touching distance of the league title (which they duly achieved) a couple of weeks later.

The next time the teams met was last season when Kettering got two second half goals to win 2-0 in Suffolk early on in the season before, in April 2024, the ‘Poppies’ and the Blues drew 2-2. Jamar Loza and Ashley Boatswain the scorers for the Blues.

FORM GUIDE:
(Most recent league form first)

BLUES: L W D W W
KETTERING TOWN: D L W W L

KETTERING FACTS

KETTERING Town were the first football club in England to wear a sponsor's logo on their shirts, Kettering Tyres were the company who benefitted from the publicity, in 1976.

CHARLES Dickens, one of the greatest English authors, enjoyed a parallel career as a journalist and he covered a by-election in Kettering for the Morning Chronicle in 1835.

SEAN Dyche, the former Burnley and Everton boss, was born and raised in Kettering, as was snooker player, Kyren Wilson, and painter Alfred East.

COMING UP FOR THE BLUES

LEISTON have home games against Barwell and Bedford Town in March while they head to AFC Sudbury (next Saturday), Biggleswade Town and Alvechurch also. The Blues also play AFC Sudbury on Tuesday 11th March in the Suffolk Premier Cup semi-final, at Felixstowe & Walton United FC.

Corporate Match Sponsor: Tony Brown Funeral Services
Match Ball Sponsor: Laurence Ball

MATCH INFORMATION
Blues v Kettering Town
Pitching In Southern League Central Premier
Saturday, March 1, 3pm kick off
Watson & Hillhouse Stadium, Victory Road, LTAA, Leiston, IP16 4DQ
Tel: 01728 830308

Admission Prices:- Adults £12, Concessions (over 65’s) £9, Students (with ID) £7, U16’s £3, U5’s FOC.
48-page printed programme available on the turnstiles and in the ground: £2.50

Game 32/42