FA Trophy round-up

Following Saturday's FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round ties, only ten Conference North clubs have made it safely through to the 1st Round stage so far, with another five involved in replays.

Five teams went out to fellow Conference North opposition and two teams, surprisingly Nuneaton Borough and Harrogate Town, went out to lower league opponents.

Droylsden 4-0 Grantham Town
Farsley Celtic 3-1 Nuneaton Borough
Fleetwood Town 1-3 Alfreton Town
Hednesford Town P-P Moor Green 6 Dec 7.45
Hinckley United 2-2 Histon 30 Nov 7.45
Hucknall Town 0-0 Northwich Victoria
Northwich Victoria 2-1 Hucknall Town
Hyde United 1-5 Stalybridge Celtic
Kettering Town 1-0 Gainsborough Trinity
Lancaster City 0-0 Workington (new date - 06 Dec, 7.45)
Leigh RMI 1-4 Stafford Rangers
Redditch United 1-1 Barrow
Barrow 2-0 Redditch United
Solihull Borough 1-0 Harrogate Town
Vauxhall Motors 2-1 Mossley
Worcester City 1-0 Kendal Town
Worksop Town 1-1 AFC Telford United
AFC Telford United 1-2 Worksop Town

Poppies drawn at home in Trophy 1st Round

Kettering Town were fortunate to be drawn at home again in the FA Trophy 1st Round and will host Unibond Premier League outfit Farsley Celtic who beat Nuneaton Borough 3-1 on Saturday in the 3rd Qualifying Round stage.

FA Trophy 1st Round ties will be played on Saturday 17th December 2005.

George Best

As a youngster, I recall staying up late one night in 1968 to watch Manchester Utd beat Benfica 4-1 in extra time, to become the first English club to win the European Cup. Best put United 2-1 up, a classic trademark rounding of the keeper before slotting into the empty net, the rest as they say is history.

Two years later and not yet a teenager, I went with my elder sister to the County Ground to witness another historic event, this time in 'live close-up'. It was hardly the perfect surface for playing controlled football, a soggy, muddy churned-up pitch that made passing and running with the ball very difficult, unless of course you were George Best.

Best glided over the surface, effortlessly dribbling the ball as though it was glued to his feet, jinking past defenders as though they were frozen to the spot and showing no signs of rust from the previous month's suspension he was only now returning from.

I watched mesmerized, along with most of the Cobblers defence, as Best put on a superb display to score six goals, a record at the time, and Manchester Utd eventually ran out 8-2 winners.

Poppies hold onto narrow lead to beat Trinity in FA Trophy

Kettering Town 1
Gainsborough Trinity 0
FA Trophy 3rd Q Round

Kettering Town host fellow Conference North outfit Gainsborough Trinity at Rockingham Road in the FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round.

The home side got off to a great start when Neil Midgley put the Poppies 1-0 up after just five minutes gone on the clock. The first 45 minutes ended with Kettering unable to increase their early lead and the visitors certainly not out of it yet.

A tight encounter for the whole ninety minutes as the second-half produced little of note, with the result certainly of more importance than the performance following the team's recent away disappointments. Kettering progress into the 1st Round of the FA Trophy.

Att: 1,132

Paterson departs Rockingham Road

Kettering Town midfielder Jamie Paterson has departed Rockingham Road it was announced by the club this week.

Jamie had only been at the Poppies for a year but in that short time he has provided the supporters with many good memories and we wish him all the best and will no doubt be seeing him playing again for another club very soon.

Dixon joins the Poppies

Kettering Town have signed 25 year-old midfielder Kevin Dixon. Dixon started as a trainee at Leeds Utd before moving to York City, Barnsley and Doncaster Rovers.

Dreadful Poppies beaten at Redditch

Redditch Utd 2
Kettering Town 1

After two disappointing away results Kettering were hoping to make it third time lucky when they traveled to the Valley Stadium tonight to face Redditch Utd.

Derek Brown was an absentee after sustaining a foot injury at Vauxhall on Saturday, Liam Nicell came into the team and Neil Midgley replaced Robert Duffy up front for the Poppies.

Kettering's poor away record seemed likely to haunt them once again after Redditch took the lead shortly before the half-hour mark through Scott Rickards.

Matters went from bad to worse for the Poppies on 36 minutes when the home side increased their lead to 2-0 as Jermaine Clarke scored for Redditch.

Lacklustre Poppies pegged back by 10-man Vauxhall

Vauxhall Motors 1
Kettering Town 1

Kettering's match away to Vauxhall Motors escaped the frozen end that several other Conference North matches suffered. Robert Duffy replaced Neil Midgley in the starting lineup and new signing Ryan-Zico Black joined Jamie Paterson on the subs bench.

Kettering got off to a great start on 14 minutes at Rivacre Park when Robert Duffy shot them into a 1-0 lead. The home side's woes were further increased when Tommy Rooney was shown a red card by Referee Green and Vauxhall were reduced to 10 men.

Derek Brown had to go off after Tommy Rooney's first bad challenge and was replaced by Jamie Paterson, with David Theobald dropping back into a more defensive role.

Ryan-Zico Black signs for Poppies

An official announcement from Kettering Town Football Club confirms the signing of Lancaster City striker Ryan-Zico Black.

Poppies boss Paul Gascoigne said "We are delighted to have secured Ryan & he is a player we have tracked for the past few weeks. He will be a fantastic addition to our squad giving us more options in various positions. Ryan is a versatile player who can score goals from midfield & upfront and he will be a great asset to the club."

The former Morcecambe striker has signed on a 2.5 year deal for an undisclosed fee and will be available for selection for Saturday's away fixture at Conference North strugglers Vauxhall Motors.

Stanley Tarrant, former Poppies goalkeeper

Stanley Tarrant, who played many games in goal for Kettering Town prior to the Second World War, died peacefully in Northampton General Hospital on Sunday 31st October aged 91 years. Condolences to the family.

Poppies host Trinity in FA Trophy

Kettering Town were drawn at home to fellow Conference North outfit Gainsborough Trinity in the FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round. No firm date has been scheduled yet, but provisionally it's likely to be Saturday 26th November 2005. The winners of the 3rd Qualifying Round receive £3,000 prize money.

Poppies salvage draw at Hednesford

Hednesford Town 2
Kettering Town 2

Kettering Town faced a Hednesford Town side who were obviously determined to bounce back with a good performance after Saturday's hammering at Worcester City. Tonight's match at Keys Park was new manager Paul Gascoigne's first away match in charge of the Poppies.

The worst possible start for Kettering, conceding a goal within 60 seconds of the kick-off when Robert Heath scored for the Pitmen on their first attack. Worse was to come shortly after when Danny Scheppel made it 2-0 on 21 minutes.

Poppies 4-1 winners over Stalybridge

Kettering Town 4
Stalybridge Celtic 1

Kettering Town welcomed old foes Stalybridge Celtic to Rockingham Road, in what is amazingly (thanks to Tuesday night's away match washout) the Poppies seventh home fixture in-a-row.

Several lineup changes to the Poppies team with Liam Nicell, Hugh McAuley and Jamie Paterson all on the bench, Neil Midgley and Christian Moore are partnered up front for Kettering.

The opening period of first half saw the home side pushing forward in an attempt to set the tempo, but were denied by the visitors defence from opening the scoring.

That all changed on 18 mins when first James Gould chipped ex-Poppies keeper Paul Pettinger from outside the box to make it 1-0 and barely had the celebrations died down when David Theobald volleyed home his first goal for Kettering to make it 2-0 on the half-hour.

Poppies v Forest - Youth FA Cup First round

Kettering Town Youth 0
Nottingham Forest Youth 3

Kettering Town youngsters were beaten 3-0 last night by opponents Nottingham Forest at Rockingham Road in the FA Youth Cup 1st Round.

Both sides created several chances to score but the clinical finishing from the visitors proved to be the main difference between the two teams on the night.

Poppies at Alfreton - Postponed due to waterlogged pitch

Alfreton Town P
Kettering Town P

Update: Match postponed due to waterlogged pitch.

Kettering Town's match away to Alfreton Town fell victim to a heavy downpour and the match was called off with the pitch rapidly disappearing under large patches of surface water

Poppies exit FA Cup 1st Round

Kettering Town   1
Midgley 14

Stevenage Borough   3
Stamp 8
Boyd 43
Elding 69

(FA Cup 1st Round)

Kettering Town manager Paul Gascoigne's first FA Cup match in charge of the Poppies kicked-off with top scorer Christian Moore and Neil Midgley partnered up front, with Ollie Burgess starting on the bench.

Kettering got off to a disastrous start when a George Boyd cross came back off the post and Darryn Stamp headed past Mark Osborn and the home defence, who had previously stood firm with six clean sheets, to put Stevenage 1-0 up after just 8 minutes.

Former Poppies manager George Swindin

Former Kettering Town manager George Swindin died last week, aged 90. Born in 1914, Swindin came to prominence as a goalkeeper at Arsenal, winning two League Championships and an FA Cup medal, before taking charge as the Gunners manager in 1958.

Swindin took over as manager of Cardiff City, signing the legendary John Charles for the Bluebirds, before taking the reigns at Rockingham Road during a brief 5-month spell from July to Nov 1965.

Swindin's brief tenure at Kettering ended when the former Arsenal goalkeeping hero resigned, citing the lack of commitment by some of his playing staff as the reason for his departure.

His record whilst at the club was Pld 20, W 11, D 4, L 5. He later managed Corby Town, before retiring to live in Spain.

Wilson departs Poppies

Kevin Wilson has decided not to accept the role of Director of Football at Rockingahm Road and is looking to get back into football club managment again.

An official announcement (see below) was made today by the club, but to many supporters the news will hardly come as a surprise.

Wilson took over following the Poppies 3-2 Boxing-Day victory away to Bedford Town in December 2003. After a shaky start, a run of 12 matches unbeaten ensured Kettering automatic qualification into the newly-formed Conference North, finishing 9th in the Isthmain League Premier Division.