Matt Kellett-Smith returned to Corinthian-Casuals with a win on Saturday, as part of a defensive line that Mu Maan described as being “the most solid we’ve looked this season.”
The 30-year-old has come back to a much-changed dressing room, but it was the one remaining team-mate from his previous spell here – Shea Cascoe-Rogers – who scored our winning goal as we netted twice in the last 10 minutes to beat Abbey Rangers 2-1.
Kellett-Smith was a regular at centre-back under Andy Gray last season, before departing the club shortly after Paul Barnes’ arrival in the dugout midway through the campaign. A commanding aerial presence, and a vocal player, he was one of the better performers during a tough spell for the club and was missed when he moved on. So it was a boost to see him at the heart of our defence again on Saturday, winning headers and cajoling his team-mates. We grabbed him for a few words as he left the pitch with three points on his second Casuals debut.
“Yeah, it was good, mate,” he said of the experience. “I always thought that we’d get something out of the game. We made some silly mistakes at the start but then, in the second half, I always felt we would get back into it, and it was a good game.
“Shea came off the bench and looked really sharp, and the lads up top did well in the second half, so we deserved it in the end.”
His return to the club last week was convenient for all parties as we were looking for a centre-half and he was looking for more game time.
“I was at Uxbridge at the start of the season, and it didn’t go too well there – I had to leave because of game time. Then one of my friends told me to come to Fleet Town but they didn’t really play me, so I spoke to Brian [Adamson] and he said to come down, and it’s been good.”
Kellett-Smith arrived as we went in search of our first victory in nine games, and he noticed that Mu Maan’s focus was clear in the build-up to Saturday’s encounter with a team we were looking to leapfrog.
“He spoke about the last couple of results and the fact that we haven’t kept a clean sheet yet,” Matt revealed. “Obviously, it’s a shame we didn’t keep one in this game either but he just said go out there and make sure we win this one – keep digging and digging and get the result. That’s what we did.”
After one training session and one match, the newly returned centre-back admits he has been impressed by the standard of the side this season and is looking forward to the challenge ahead for the remainder of the season.
“I’m positive, to be honest,” he told us. “Even when I went training for the first time last Thursday, I did think we looked more sharp. In this league, if we play like we did in the second half against Abbey, I think we’ll get a lot of results.”