FA reject Hornchurch appeal

Hornchurch have had their appeal rejected and were consequently deducted 1 point by the FA for playing an unregistered player, Daniel Kerrigan, in their 1-1 draw at Heybridge Swifts in September. The league table has been adjusted accordingly.

Poppies make second-half comeback

Hendon 1   Kettering Town 2

Kettering fell behind after 25 minutes when Steve Butler put the home side in front and Hendon held on to the narrow lead going into the half-time break. Jason Turner restored Kettering back to level terms after 64 minutes.

It looked like the match would end all-square with just 5 minutes left until Eliot Paschalis put Kettering in front for the first time and the Poppies held their 2-1 advantage until the final whistle to record their 3rd away win in-a-row.

Oshitola departs Rockingham Road

The club has announced that striker Tobi Oshitola has left Rockingham Road "following the completion of his loan period and complications in his proposed transfer". I'm not exactly sure what the last part means but it looks like we didn't actually sign him on a contract despite all the furore surrounding his not being available for the FA Cup tie and the bottom line is he's gone.

Caretaker manager Nicky Platnauer has already added three more names to the club's first team playing squad with the announcement that the Poppies PASE (Youth team) players Chris DiFante and Kevin Bourne are joined by Paul Campbell, a midfield/defender from Unibond League Division One outfit Belper Town.

Genovese sacked !

The club announced tonight that they'd "called time" on Dominic Genovese, relieving him of his duties as First team manager of Kettering Town Football Club. He will now revert to his previous post in charge of the PASE setup at Rockingham Road.

With Kettering Town lying 10th in the Ryman League Premier Division following last season's relegation from the Conference and an early FA Cup exit at the hands of First Division North side Boreham Wood, Genovese has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks.

Poppies run down by Motormen

Kettering Town 0   Ford Utd 3

No penalties, no own goals and no clean sheet as Kettering's luck ran out and it was back to their abysmal best (or is that worst?). The last time the home crowd saw their team they were thumped 4-1 by Canvey Island and despite two 1-0 away wins in between, it turned out they witnessed another crushing defeat at Rockingham Road for the Poppies, this time 3-0 at the hands of Ford Utd.

Poppies sign defender Hannigan

According to the Official website Kettering Town have signed 32 year-old defender Al-James Hannigan, although as usual, no mention is made of what type of contract he is on or for how long he has been signed. Hannigan who played with Andy Cole and Kevin Campbell in the FA Youth Cup winning side, signed Arsenal forms in 1990, but was released a year later.

The much-traveled Hannigan has had spells at Nene Park, Enfield, Yeovil Town, Slough Town, Hayes, Bishop's Stortford and Carshalton Athletic (amongst others) and was playing at Dulwich Hamlet at the start of this season. He joined Ryman League Division One North outfit Leyton in mid-September but was released after playing only a handful of matches for the London club.

Poppies gifted late winner

St Albans City 0 Kettering Town 1

Another goal-less first-half and another game that looked likely to remain scoreless as neither side had the firepower in front of goal. The match turned however, in the final minutes, when Saints defender scored an unfortunate own-goal, gifting Kettering the late winner.

Not exactly a classic, but another clean sheet from goalkeeper Paul Pettinger and his fellow defenders once again allowed a single goal to decide the result. Three more vital points for Kettering sees them climb up the league table to a far more respectable 7th position.

Norman penalty secures Poppies win at Hayes

Hayes 0 Kettering Town 1

A vital clean sheet by Poppies goalkeeper Paul Pettinger aided by his fellow defenders allowed Craig Norman's second-half penalty to secure a much-needed victory at Church Rd. Although the match was hardly an entertaining affair for the traveling supporters, it was at least a victory and Kettering's first away win in the league since late August.

After today's win, Kettering move up to 10th in the table and next match they face another away trip to St Albans City on Tuesday night, hopefully they can continue their upward climb.

Poppies drawn away to Hendon in FA Trophy

Kettering Town were drawn away to fellow RLPD outfit Hendon in the 2nd Round of the FA Trophy. The tie is to be played on Saturday 29th November 2003 and prize money for winning the round is £3,000.

Neighbours Rothwell Town were drawn away to Bath City, but first the managerless Bones must overcome Gloucester City in Tuesday night's replay, after drawing 1-1 in Saturday's 1st Round tie at Cecil St.

Poor Poppies crushed by Canvey

Kettering Town 1 Canvey Island 4

Any lingering optimisim about Kettering's chances of recovering from their poor start to the season to mount a realistic title challenge must surely have been well and truly buried by a Canvey Island side that came to Rockingham Road and seemed to be able to almost score at will.

One in, two out for Poppies

The loan periods for Bradley Thomas and Lee Clarke have now ended and the two Peterborough United players have returned to London Rd following a three month period at Kettering which was interrupted by call-ups to their respective international squads.

Poppies boss Dominic Genovese has finally managed to sign striker Toby Oshitola, although the pettiness that Gray's Athletic showed in not allowing the 20 year-old to play for Kettering in the FA Cup could have cost the Rockingham Rd club dearly. "It's unfortunate that we couldn't include him on Saturday. But despite doing our best to try and persuade them Grays wouldn't budge on the issue."

Oshitola has now signed until the end of the season (although given our past record with player contracts even that's not bankable) and is certain to feature in what will possibly be Kettering's toughest challenge so far this season, Saturday's home fixture against league leaders Canvey Island.