STOURBRIDGE boss Liam McDonald his side ‘fluffed their lines’ against promotion-hunting Kettering Town.
Isiah Noel-Williams put the Poppies in front in the 29th minute and Terell Pennant doubled the lead early in the second half.
Jonny Edwards, a 70th minute substitute, then scored from the penalty spot 10 minutes later.
Stourbridge netted a consolation goal in stoppage time through Richard Batchelor’s first goal for the club.
McDonald felt that there could have been ‘two red cards’ for Kettering – but accepted that would not have changed the result.
The Glassboys boss told the club’s official YouTube channel: “Kettering were the better team and deserved to win the game.
“But it’s just frustrating. We’re disappointed, I just felt in the first 25 minutes we were on top, and if we score, the game is different. We were trying to take the game to them.
“Yet all three goals were poor, that’s not like us. At half time, we talked about where we could probably expose them a little bit.
“But for their second. It’s a mistake from us, and it’s gifted them, and then it’s going to be really difficult. You know, we huffed and puffed, but they’ve got a good quality, and we knew that, we needed to get the crowd going and give them some positivity.
It proved to just be a late consolation, but @RichieZuLuBatch is off the mark in red and white 🫡#StourAyWe | #OneHeartOneWay pic.twitter.com/4O7t8eJnws
— Stourbridge FC (@StourbridgeFC) February 16, 2025
“But I don’t think our performance was bad, we just fluffed our lines a little bit, and then we gifted them goals. The penalty was soft as well.
“I thought the referee made some ridiculous decisions in, you know, they should have had a couple red cards, but wouldn’t have changed the result.
“Kettering are a good team, the favorites to win the league, they’re paying a lot of money out to try and go up this season, and they’ve got some fantastic football players, ex Football League players, within the squad.
“But I just saw some tackles flying in today which were late, and we’ve got one that was still on the injury table after the game. So we’re disappointed.”
