U's:0 Poppies:2

I don't know what was worse on Saturday; United losing to Kettering or Mssrs. Fry and McAnthony lording it up in our stadium as they confirmed the identity of their new manager.

Fat Barry was even on his feet celebrating when the second goal went in; presumably he's looking forward to Mark Cooper bringing a few of his giant players - and Kettering's easy-on-the-eye brand of total football - to London Road.

If that sounds like sour grapes, then that's because it is. Kettering bear more than a passing resemblance to JQ's 2007/08 United vintage; strong, physical, and hard to break down at the back, they get the ball forward quite quickly and let their skillful attackers do the rest. It's probably the ideal set up for this division, though whether Cooper will be able adapt his system for The Championship remains to be seen.

Back to United, and while I didn't think we played that badly, we struggled to impose ourselves on the Kettering giants; a lot of our possession ended with unconvincing shots from distance, and when we did get a proper chance of course it had to fall to Crowy who, as usual, was about as deadly as a viper with dentures.

I have to question a couple of Lingy's choices as well. Firstly I felt the move from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 was a strange one, considering the success we were having against the Poppies back line was coming from the flanks. Pitt was probably our most dangerous attacker, so to remove him and Willmott in one go was a bit counter-productive, and just seemed to make the (already crowded) middle of the pitch even more congested.

Secondly, why wasn't one of Maz or JP on the bench? I imagine it was with an eye to CRC's FA Vase game, but surely the first team takes priority? I fail to see the point of having two central midfielders (Ives and Challinor) in reserve when one could have been sacrificed for a more attacking option.

Ho hum, onwards and, er, onwards. I'm not usually a pessimistic sort, but I think there's more chance of George Burley still being in a job come Saturday than us getting three points at Luton. I'll wait to be proved wrong.