Poppies win 3-1 at home to Workington and collect Championship Trophy
Kettering Town 3 Workington 1 Saturday's penultimate home fixture against Workington gives the club's supporters the opportunity to see Kettering Town presented with the Championship Trophy for winning the Blue Square North title. Both teams straight into the action as first Workington and then Kettering fire their opening salvoes in the first few minutes of the match. On 13 minutes the home side scored first, taking a 1-0 the lead through Craig Westcarr from close-in. The action continued with Marna curling a shot just wide and then Anthony denied an equaliser by an alert defence. Kettering went 2-0 up when Chris Beardsley headed home on 20 minutes. MckLuckie came close again for the visitors, before Kettering pressed for a third, but in a five minute spell before the break, Beardsley, Dempster and Brady all saw efforts fly the wrong side of the posts. Half-time: Kettering Town 2 Workington 0 The second-half gets underway at a slightly subdued pace and a fast break sees McLuckie with just Harper to beat but the Poppies keeper makes a good save. Jon Brady becomes the first name in the referee's notebook as we reach the hour mark and from the free-kick Anthony fires straight into the arms of Harper. Poppies make their first substitution as Beardsley is replaced by Robinson. The match has certainly lost the tempo of the first-half as an Anthony effort is easily collected by Harper with less than 20 minutes left and a Solkhon header flies well wide at the other end. The Poppies home support won't be too bothered right now as they're getting ready for the presentation of the BSN Championship Trophy at the final whistle and the celebrations that follow. With barely ten minutes remaining Brett Solkhon heads home the third for Kettering and the fans are really in party mode now. Cooper swaps out Galbraith for Brady for the final ten minutes. Workington make a quick double substitution with Hardman and Gray replacing Berkely and May. The changes pay dividends almost immediately when Andrew Hardman latches onto a Wright through ball and scores a consolation goal for the visitors with barely five minutes remaining. A late surge from the visitors as Anthony forces Harper to push the ball out for a corner and Anthony again comes close but his effort clears the crossbar in stoppage time. The final whistle sounds and signals the party to begin as Kettering are presented with the BSN Championship Trophy. Att: 1,386 Kettering: Harper, Eaden, Kemp, Branston, Dempster, Solkhon, Brady, Bridges, Marna, Beardsley, Westcarr. Subs: Robinson, Bussey, Mills, Collins, Galbraith. Workington: McLuckie, Collin, Andrews, Roundtree, May, Kirkup, Gray, Anthony, Hopper, Berkeley, J.Wright. Subs: Edmonson, A.Wright, Taylor, Johnson, Hardman. April 19, 2008
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