Poppies secure away win at Boro'

Harrow Borough 1 Kettering Town 2

Kettering secured their second win in two games in the Ryman League Premier Division last night despite falling behind mid-way through the first-half to a very bad judgement error by goalkeeper Paul Pettinger. Dominic Genovese's men recovered their composure and with the help of two goals from midfielder Matt Murphy, narrowly defeated a battling Harrow Borough.

The home side took the lead on 26 minutes when Pettinger raced out of his area but failed to clear the ball under pressure from the advancing Abdulai Yoki, allowing Boro's Ross Fitzsimon to roll the resulting gift into any empty net.

Kettering struck back almost immediately when Matt Murphy headed home a corner from Ian King to draw his side level again and the teams went into the half-time break on equal terms.

The second-half turned on two incidents involving Boro's Perry Norman (Craig's younger brother). First on 65 minutes, Norman tugged back the shirt of Lee Clarke who was bearing down on the home goal and the referee awarded the penalty, cautioning Norman. Matt Murphy stepped up and duly sent the diving Hook the wrong way to put Kettering 2-1 up.

Then shortly after, came Norman's second yellow and subsequently red card for a blatant lunge on Gary Butterworth and the home side were then reduced to 10 men for the second time (in only two games played) this season.

Despite the man-advantage helping carve out several half-decent chances, Kettering couldn't make the game safe and a battling home side were denied an equaliser by several vital saves from a relieved Pettinger, somewhat making amends for his earlier indiscretion.

The full-time whistle saw Kettering maintain their 100% record despite not really being able to get out of second gear, however, at this early stage it's undeniably more important to get the wins on the board and try to work on the overall team performance as the season continues to unfold.