Poppies lose 1-0 at home to Alfreton Town - face Farsley in the play-offs

Kettering Town 0

Alfreton Town 1
Rawle 33

Poppies manager Graham Westley used his final chance to assess his players before they travel to whoever ends up claiming the 5th spot on Wednesday night for the play-off semi-final first leg, with Westcarr and Marna left on the bench and Makofo and Perpetuini starting.

A worrying start for Kettering supporters as Rene Howe limped off after only 14 minutes on the clock to be replaced by Craig Werstcarr. Hopefully it wasn't a serious knock and Poppies boss Westley was just being cautious with the club's top scorer.

Neither side yet creating the clinical finishing touch needed to break the deadlock and so far the match is looking very much like a season's end fixture with nothing at stake for either team as it remains 0-0 after 30 minutes of the first-half.

Just three minutes later and Mark Rawle opened the scoring to put the visitors 1-0 up at Rockingham Road and with Kettering not seemingly getting out of second gear in the first period at all, at the half-time whistle the score remained 1-0 to Alfreton Town.

Half-time: Kettering Town 0   Alfreton Town 1

A second-half so far that carried on from where the first 45 minutes left off and the home side don't seem too worried at the prospect of losing their final home game of the season despite the confidence boost that avoiding defeat would possibly provide.

As the match goes into the final quarter the home supporters have one eye on the other matches going on and at the moment it appears that Farsley are holding onto 5th spot which would mean the Poppies would be traveling to Farsley on Wednesday night for the first leg of the semi-final play-offs.

Kettering didn't really seem up for this match and after failing to score in either of the two matches under caretaker manager Graham Westley they lost 1-0 at home to Alfreton Town at the final whistle. With Farsley Celtic recording an emphatic 4-1 win away to Redditch Utd, Kettering will indeed face Celtic in the Conference North play-off semi-finals.

Att: 1,204

Kettering: Osborn, Graham, Peprah, Perpetuini, Solkhon, Theobald, Caskey, Boucaud, Hall, Makofo, Howe. Subs: Nicell, Bussey, Seanla, Marna, Westcarr.

Alfreton: Roberts, Wider, Burberry, Brown, Glass, Rawle, Clarke, Barnard, Laight, Nwadike, Whitman. Subs: Large, Flanagan, Hannagin, Harcot, Ebdon.