2000's part 2

Genovese struggles to halt the decline

The appointment of Dominic Genovese would hardly have been a unanimous choice for most supporters, although a popular ex-player and successful Youth coach at Rockingham Road, many supporters thought the lack of management experience at a higher level would prove too big a hurdle, however the chairman thought otherwise and Kettering Town kicked-off the 2003-04 season in the Isthmian League with Genovese at the helm.

Kettering started the new season with two narrow 2-1 victories and a 1-1 draw, not a bad start to the campaign and despite a surprise defeat in their next fixture, Kettering bounced back to record back-to back victories and on paper at least, the team looked to be making progress in the right direction.

However, a late 3-2 surrender away to Carshalton Athletic after leading 2-0, exposed some worrying flaws appearing in the side and just one win out of their next five fixtures dropped the Poppies down to 13th place. The early season gloss had clearly worn off, bringing the supporters initial fears back into play and attendances dramatically dropped to register a meagre 601 for the home fixture against Heybridge Swifts.

Matters worsened for Genovese when the Poppies crashed out of the FA Cup away to Boreham Wood and with it went the prize money of £10,000 and what would have been another money-spinning trip away to Second Division Blackpool in the 1st Round Proper.

A Craig Norman penalty secured a win away to Hayes and an own-goal gifted Kettering another win at St Albans, but the 3-0 hammering at Rockingham Road by Ford Utd only underlined the team's defensive frailties and another low attendance underlined the supporters disatisfaction with the way the season was now progressing.

It came as little surprise to most that shortly after their latest home defeat, Kettering Town announced that Dominic Genovese was 'being relieved' of his First Team duties and would revert back to being the Youth Team coach.

Platnauer's brief caretake role

Genovese's early departure had arguably been hastened indirectly by the re-structuring of the non-league pyramid, with only those teams finishing above 14th place being guaranteed a berth in the newly-formed Conference North or Confernce South for the start of the 2004-05 season. With the season less than half-way through, it appeared that Poppies chairman Peter Mallinger had learned a valuable lesson and the process soon begun for the search for a suitably qualified and experienced replacement, with ex-Rothwell Town boss Nicky Platnauer taking over in the interim as caretaker manager of Kettering Town.

Platnauer's role as caretaker manager lasted just seven matches. A 1-1 draw away to Hendon in the Second Round of the FA Trophy and a 2-2 draw at home to Aylesbury Utd with Duck's striker Darren Lynch denying Platnauer and Kettering their first home win since back in mid-October. A fruitless journey down to the South Coast saw Kettering exit the Bryco Cup at the first hurdle, losing 2-0 at Worthing, but a mixed performance saw the Poppies hold on for a vital 2-1 league win at Northwood to remain in 7th place.

As the season had almost reached the halfway stage, the search for a permanent manager had finally been concluded and Nick Platnauer's final match in charge of Kettering Town ended in a narrow 3-2 away victory at Bedford Town on Boxing Day, with the club announcing the appointment of former Cobbler's boss Kevin Wilson as the new Kettering Town manager shortly afterwards.

Wilson takes over the hot-seat

Kevin Wilson and his management assitant, Lee Howey, got off to a winning start on New Year's Day 2004, with Jason Turner scoring twice and Paul Fewings adding another as Poppies narrowly beat Hornchurch 3-2, in what was Kettering's first home-win since mid-October. Just five days later however, any thoughts of a honeymoon period were swiftly crushed as Kettering were hammered 4-1 away to Bishop's Stortford. Wilson moved quickly to try and resolve the club's goalscoring problems by signing Darren Lynch, who was previously under Wilson at both Bedford Town and Aylesbury Utd.

Kettering's next match was the visit of Conference outfit Woking in the FA Trophy, a 0-0 draw at Rockingham Road was quickly followed by the replay and a solid performance saw Kettering 3-2 victors and into the 4th Round. However any euphoria was again short-lived as Kettering crashed 3-0 at home and then 1-0 away, to Carshalton Athletic and Bognor Regis in quick succession.

February opened with a 0-0 draw at Eton Park and brought Conference outfit Burton Albion to the replay at Rockingham Road the following Tuesday, this time there was to be no repeat of the last round's victory and with an unusual miss from the penalty spot by Craig Norman, Kettering went out 2-1 in extra-time. Defeat at Sutton Utd by 2-1 hardly did much to quieten Wilson's detractors and the failure of new signing Darren Lynch to find the net only added to the mounting disappointment.

Kettering continued to suffer with results and their automatic berth in the newly structured Conference North or South that was dependent upon a top 14 place finish was looking in increasing danger and recent signing Lynch had gone 12 games without finding the net for his new club.

The turning point and subsequent change in fortunes was coupled with the goals suddenly flowing for striker Lynch and Kettering began to slowly claw their way back up the table. A much improved run-in saw the Poppies finish in 9th spot and ironically, during the end-of-season restructuring Kettering found themselves heading into the newly created Conference North section for the 2004-05 season.