Cross strike enough for Poppies victory

Kettering Town  1     Bradford Park Avenue   0

Kettering came into today's match with just one change to Saturday's starting lineup, Jamie Patterson was absent and his place was taken by Stefan Morley, with Scott McCafferty coming onto the bench.

Scott Cross playing in only his second start for the Poppies put the home side 1-0 up on 28 minutes and Kettering maintained the narrow lead going into the half-time break against Bradford Park Avenue.

Amazing second-half comeback keeps Poppies play-off hopes on-track

Redditch Utd   2    Kettering Town   3

Chris DiFante came into the Poppies starting lineup following the absence of top striker Darren Lynch and is surprisingly partnered by Scott Cross, as Mark Danks sits on the bench. Wayne Diuk, Derek Brown and Brett Solkhon are also back in the starting lineup at Redditch Utd.

Kettering's play-off hopes looked like taking a severe dent in the first 45 minutes at the Valley Stadium after going into the break 2-0 down. Simon Hollis opened the scoring for Redditch on 35 minutes and just four minutes later the home side increased their lead to 2-0 courtesy of a Scott Rickards strike.

Goal-shy Poppies suffer another home defeat

Kettering Town  0     Stafford Rangers  1

Kettering started the match with virtually the same lineup as the Hinckley game, Jonathon Bewers coming in to replace the injured Wayne Diuk, Craig McIlwain retained his place, with Brett Solkhon and Derek Brown on the bench. Darren Lynch plays his last game before a three-match suspension and is again partnered by Mark Danks up front.

With Kettering still struggling to find their rythmn in attack, the pressure on the defence is inevitably greater to provide that vital clean sheet. Unfortunately, on 20 minutes Poppies keeper Osborn conceded his first goal playing for Kettering as visitors Stafford Rangers broke the deadlock courtesy of Neil Grayson to go 1-0 up. At the half-time whistle Rangers still held onto their narrow lead.

Howey and Croudson depart Kettering

Kevin Wilson's managerial assistant Lee Howey has departed Kettering Town by 'mutual consent' although it would appear to be more a financial-based decision for the cash-strapped Rockingham Road club. "There is no problem and Lee fully understood the situation", Wilson explained. "The situation is that Lee has left mainly for financial reasons."

Goalkeeper Steve Croudson was also let go by Wilson, who recently brought in a replacement keeper, Mark Osborn. Osborn has kept two clean sheets in the two games played so far and along with the arrival of Luke Graham, has helped instill a greater confidence in the Poppies defence in the process.

Lynch goal enough to earn Poppies the points

Hinckley Utd 0     Kettering Town 1

Poppies boss Kevin Wilson had the luxury of choosing from a virtually full squad for tonight's match at Hinckley's Marston Stadium, as both Ollie Burgess and James Gould returned to the starting lineup. Mark Osborn is between the posts and Darren Lynch is again partnered by Mark Danks up front.

Another dire first 45 minutes as Kettering seem unable to shake themselves out of the lacklustre performance rut they appear to be currently stuck in. No goals and nothing much to excite the Poppies traveling faithful.

The second-half continued in much the same vein but livened up with the introduction of Poppies substitute Chris DiFante. With Kettering pushing forward and time running out, Difante laid on a pass for Darren Lynch to slot the ball home on 87 minutes. The final whistle sounded to the relief of the visiting supporters and with it came a hard-earned 3pts for the Poppies.

Att: 1,097

Kettering: Osborn, Morley, Matthews, Diuk, Graham, McIlwain, Burgess, J.Gould, Lynch, Danks, Patterson. Subs: Bewers, DiFante, Bridgeford, R.Gould, McCafferty.

Poor crowd sees Poppies held in goaless draw at home

Kettering Town 0     Harrogate Town 0

Poppies boss Kevin Wilson made good on his promise with the announcement that Mark Osborn dons the goalkeeping jersey today against Harrogate Town. 23 year-old Osborn has been signed from Conference National outfit Farnborough Town. The only other starting lineup change from Tuesday night is the absence of James Gould, with Jonny Rowan coming off the subs bench to replace him.

A very tight first 45 minutes as expected at Rockingham Road this afternoon with neither side able to find a way past the others solid rearguard and break the deadlock, the two teams left the field at half-time all square at 0-0.

Conference announce play-off dates

The end-of-season play-off dates for the Conference North and South Divisions have been announced by the Football Conference as follows:

Conference North and South Semi-Finals - Monday 2nd or Tuesday 3rd May 2005, (with highest-placed teams having home advantage throughout).

2nd place v 5th place
3rd place v 4th place

Conference North and South Finals - Saturday 12th May 2005.

winner of 2nd v 5th   v   winners of 3rd v 4th

Conference North v South Final - Saturday 17th or Sunday 18th May 2005. (match to be played at Stoke City FC).

winners of North play-offs v winners of South play-offs

Martin Matthews Testamonial

Kettering Town 1     Peterborough Utd 2

Tonight's match between Kettering Town XI and Peterborough Utd at Rockingham Road was the testamonial match for Poppies stalwart Martin Matthews. Matthews was originally signed from King's Lynn way back in the summer of 1998 by then Poppies manager Peter Morris.

During the almost seven years spent at Rockingham Road, Martin has been with the club through a Wembley FA Trophy Final, relegation, championship-winning promotion, relegation again and recently the restructuring of the lower leagues and Kettering's current push for promotion.

Poppies come from behind to win - Lynch sent off

Alfreton Town 1     Kettering Town 2

Poppies boss Kevin Wilson promised a shake-up after Saturday's poor display, however most of the changes were forced upon him due to injuries, with Solkhon, Brown and Burgess all sidelined. Coming in to replace them are Bewers, Morley and McIlwain. Danks is again starting alongside Lynch up front, with DiFante and Rowan on the subs bench.

With both teams struggling to score goals, the most likely outcome for this match was arguably a 0-0 draw, compounded by the fact that Darren Lynch missed a penalty shortly after the half-hour mark. However, all that changed on 41 minutes when Luke Foster (incidentally scoring Alfreton's first goal this year) headed the home side 1-0 in front and the Reds held the same narrow advantage going into the half-time break.

Poppies pay the price for lack of creativity

Lancaster City 1     Kettering Town 0

As expected new signing Mark Danks started upfront alongside Poppies top scorer Darren Lynch and both Chris DiFante and Jonny Rowan were on the bench this afternoon at Giant Axe, against hosts Lancaster City, with Kettering hoping to continue where they left off last Saturday.

A fairly quiet first 45 minutes with the home side defending well against Kettering's new strike-partnership and neither side able to break the deadlock saw the two teams go into the half-time break all square at 0-0.

Danks finally arrives at Kettering

It looks like Mark Danks will be in the Poppies starting lineup for Saturday's match at Lancaster City after all, following the announcement today of the Forest Green striker coming on loan to Kettering Town until the end of the season. Wilson explained, "I just feel we need someone with that extra bit of pace up front and that is something Mark can provide."

Poppies get off to a flying start and end in a flourish

Vauxhall Motors 0    Kettering Town 2

New loanee Luke Graham went straight into the starting lineup, Craig McIlwain is on the bench and Jonny Rowan partners top scorer Darren Lynch up front as Kettering take on the first of three difficult away fixtures in-a-row.

A more balanced looking Kettering got off to a flying start when Ollie Burgess put them 1-0 up after 9 minutes at Riveacre Park. Neither side were able to add further to the scoreboard before the break and at half-time Kettering went in still with their slender advantage intact.