Gray won't be taking Kettering match lightly (From Bournemouth Echo)

Gray won't be taking Kettering match lightly

7:00am Friday 8th February 2013 in Non league football By Neil Perrett

BOSS Frank Gray has warned his Bashley players to prepare for a much tougher test when they host Premier Division whipping boys Kettering Town tomorrow (3pm).

Bash, who hammered crisis-hit Poppies 7-0 when they met in October, entertain the one-time Conference big guns on the back of an eight-match winless run.

Gray’s men have registered two draws from their past four home games and are currently four points above the drop zone, with Kettering 15 adrift at the foot.

However, Gray has been boosted by recent displays with Bash holding promotion hopefuls Cambridge City to a 0-0 draw at Bashley Road in midweek.

Kettering, who were once managed by Paul Gascoigne, started the campaign with a 10-point deduction due to financial issues and could only field 10 men when they met Bash four months ago.

Gray said: “We need to get three points on the board as quickly as possible. If we keep putting the same effort in as we did against Cambridge, I am sure the win we all want won’t be far away. We felt we played well at Totton for long spells but it was quite noticeable that we had missed a lot of football recently. But we stuck at the task well against Cambridge.”

“Now, we need to take that into the Kettering match. They seem to have picked up after changing things round and it is a completely different situation to the last time we played them.”

Elliot Wheeler (ligaments) and Andy Jenkinson (back) are both doubtful, while Tim Stephenson (ankle) may also struggle.

Bash: (from) Moore, Strickland, Oliver, Finlay, Middleton, Richardson, Casey, Colson, Stokoe, Gamble, Hill, Knight, Gradwell, Foster, Gazzard, Wheeler, Stephenson, Jenkinson, Kearn.