Poppies must reinvent themselves, says boss Cox

Kettering Town drew another blank in front of goal in Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Hereford. Pictures by Peter Short

Paul Cox believes the Kettering Town squad need to “reinvent themselves” during the Vanarama National League North run-in.

The Poppies claimed a fourth draw in a row as they battled out a goalless stalemate with Hereford on Tuesday night.

The result means Kettering are now nine points clear of the relegation zone as they bid to secure their status at Step 2 for another season.

But, with his team now without a win in six matches, Cox believes he and his players must “do something a bit different” in a bid to turn their draws into wins.

Poppies boss Paul Cox takes his team to AFC Telford United this weekend

The Poppies are now gearing up for a trip to AFC Telford United tomorrow (Saturday).

And Cox said: “When we first came in, the easy part was stopping the rot but now the players need to reinvent themselves a little bit because I am expecting us to beat clubs like Hereford.

“People might say I am crazy but I have to have high expectations. We asked questions of them but in the final third we are just missing that little bit of something and maybe even missing a bit of luck.

“It’s something we have got to overcome but we need to be getting wins against these big clubs if we are to establish ourselves.

“I am not getting ahead of myself. The job is still to stay in this league but the mentality has to be for expansion and to improve all the time.

“But the boys are working extremely hard. There may be a touch of anxiety in there given that we are still caught up in a relegation battle.

“But they have to enjoy it, they need to go and embrace the remaining matches.

“Hereford’s manager (Josh Gowling) said before the game that, after playing York and Farsley Celtic, his team were coming up against a different animal against us.

“People are starting to take notice of us and when that happens and they do that extra bit of homework on you, you have to reinvent yourselves and do something a bit different. That’s what we have to do now."