Poppies claim narrow victory

Kettering Town 1 Redditch Utd 0

A goal in the 12th minute from Poppies defender Rob Gould proved to be enough at the final whistle for Kettering Town to claim a narrow victory over visitors Redditch Utd at Rockingham Road tonight.

Att: 929

Kettering: Corry, Matthews, Gould, Brown, Folds, Solkhon, Kearns, Burgess, French, Roberts, Lynch. Subs: Difante, Underwood, McIlwain, McCafferty, Lazarus.

Poppies win 2-0 at Ashton

Ashton Utd 0   Kettering Town 2

Kettering made one change from Tuesday night by bringing in Wayne Diuk for Ollie Burgess and eventually took the lead just after the half-hour mark through Darren Lynch from the penalty spot.

After a slow first-half Kettering came out for the second-half determined to force the tempo and ten minutes after the restart were rewarded when Darren Lynch increased the lead to 2-0 from close range.

Att: 230

Kettering: Corry, Matthews, Gould, Brown, Folds, Solkhon, Kearns, Diuk, French, Roberts, Lynch. Subs: Burgess, Underwood, McIlwain, McCafferty, Lazarus.

Alfreton Town remain the only Conference North outfit with a 100% record and go two points clear at the top of the table. Kettering's win moves them up into 6th place and sends Ashton Utd, the only club without a point, down to the bottom of the table.

Poppies win 2-0 at Ashton

Ashton Utd 0   Kettering Town 2

Kettering made one change from Tuesday night by bringing in Wayne Diuk for Ollie Burgess and eventually took the lead just after the half-hour mark through Darren Lynch from the penalty spot.

After a slow first-half Kettering came out for the second-half determined to force the tempo and ten minutes after the restart were rewarded when Darren Lynch increased the lead to 2-0 from close range.

Att: 230

Kettering: Corry, Matthews, Gould, Brown, Folds, Solkhon, Kearns, Diuk, French, Roberts, Lynch. Subs: Burgess, Underwood, McIlwain, McCafferty, Lazarus.

Alfreton Town remain the only Conference North outfit with a 100% record and go two points clear at the top of the table. Kettering's win moves them up into 6th place and sends Ashton Utd, the only club without a point, down to the bottom of the table.

Poppies crash 3-0 at Stafford

Stafford Rangers 3   Kettering Town 0

After they got off to a flying start on Saturday, Kettering Town crashed back down to earth tonight with a 3-0 away defeat at the hands of old rivals Stafford Rangers.

Kettering fell behind to a goal from Craig McAughetrie after just 4 minutes at Marston Road and worse was to come for the Poppies when on 18 minutes the home side increased their lead as Craig Wilding made it 2-0 to Rangers.

The second-half hardly improved matters for Kettering when they fell 3 goals behind on 54 minutes, as Robert Heath scored for the home side to effectively wrap up the points for Rangers and to send the Poppies home empty-handed.

Att: 871

Kettering: Corry, Matthews, Gould, Brown, Folds, Solkhon, Kearns, Burgess, French, Roberts, Lynch. Subs: Diuk, DiFante, McIlwain, McCafferty, Lazarus.

Poppies win Conference North opener

Kettering Town 3 Hucknall Town 1

Kettering Town opened their Conference North Campaign with a 3-1 victory over last season's Unibond Premier Champions Hucknall Town after taking a 2-0 lead at half-time.

Kettering drew first blood on 32 minutes when Ollie Burgess found the back of the net and just as half-time approached the home side increased their lead when Drew Roberts was brouhgt down in the penalty area.

Darren Lynch stepped up and slotted the ball past Hucknall goalkeeper Matt Taylor (who had committed the foul on Roberts) to send the home side into the break 2-0 up.

Kettering further increased their lead just before the hour mark when an uncharacteristic mistake by Taylor allowed Drew Roberts to nip in and slot the ball home to make it 3-0 to the Poppies.

Hucknall kept plugging away and scored a consolation goal on 82 minutes when Danny Bacon netted, but by then the game was all but over and Kettering had secured a solid 3-1 victory in their campaign opener.

Poppies win comfortably at Rothwell

Rothwell Town 1 Kettering Town 4

Kettering completed their preseason friendlies with a convincing victory over neighbours Rothwell Town at Cecil St with two goals in each half and the home side scoring a consolation goal with ten minutes remaining.

Wilson's men got off to a good start on the quarter-hour mark when they were awarded a penalty after Jamie Kearns had been upended in the box. Darren Lynch placed the ball down on the spot and sent the keeper the wrong way to put the Poppies in front.

As half-time approached, Drew Roberts quickly latched onto a through ball and finding himself in the clear, made no mistake by cooly finishing off the move and putting Kettering 2-0 up going into the break.

Poppies come from behind to win at Taunton

Taunton Town 1 Kettering Town 2

Another bruising encounter down in the Southwest saw Kevin Wilson's players finally come out on top after falling behind to an early goal from the home side's Gary Fisher on 20 minutes, conceded in a similar fashion to the one at Dawlish on Saturday.

Kettering equalised just before half-time when Drew Roberts scored from the penalty spot and then took the lead for the first time in the second-half when Simon Underwood met a cross from Neil Lazarus to put the Poppies 2-1 up.

Poppies v Dawlish abandoned after injury

The preseason friendly match between Kettering and Dawlish ended after one of the home players suffered a suspected broken leg in a '50/50 tackle' with Poppies Derek Brown.

With Matthew Coleman lying on the ground in distress and waiting for the arrival of an ambulance, the two managers had already agreed to call a halt to procedings after 78 minutes of play.

Kettering's Drew Roberts was unable to continue after an earlier tackle from a Dawlish player and Chris DiFante replaced the Poppies striker. Darren Lynch not only made his first start but scored a goal for the Poppies just before the hour mark, albeit from the penalty spot after he was brought down by the home keeper.

After 71 minutes Dave Worthington beat James Waite to a through ball and neatly rounded the Poppies keeper to level the scores, before the tragic incident saw the match prematurely ended.