POPPIES FEEL JOY OF SIX
The leaders stay perfect at Town
KETTERING made it six wins from six games in an entertaining clash but a spirited Stratford made them fight all the way, especially after the Poppies went down to ten men with 20 minutes left.
It was Stratford who threatened first with Mike Taylor heading narrowly over from a Will Grocott freekick but the Poppies went ahead in the 16th minute when Ben Milnes let fly with a thunderous right footer from 25 yards which rocketed into the net past Stratford keeper Nathan Vaughan.
But the lead was to be short-lived as two minutes later Kettering keeper Paul White came out to collect the ball but failed to do so and Taylor nipped in to roll the ball into the empty net.
Stratford had the next chance on the half-hour mark when Edwin Ahenkorah’s neat pass down the left played in ex-Poppy Wilson Carvalho, who blazed over with only White to beat.
Kettering responded with Milnes whipping in a cross on 38 minutes which was met by Rhys Hoenes on the volley but brilliantly turned away by Vaughan at point-blank range.
And they regained the lead a minute before the break when Gary Stohrer turned past a couple of defenders on the left edge of the penalty area and curled the ball past Vaughan into the bottom corner.
The Poppies upped their tempo after the break with both Milnes and Andrea Borg going close with wellstruck efforts before they went 3-1 up on 54 minutes when Hoenes’ deep cross from the left was headed back by Brett Solkhon to Dion Kelly-Evans who hit a spectacular volley beyond Vaughan into the far corner.
Kettering seemed comfortable but the game took a twist on 70 minutes when Kelly-Evans clattered into Grocott and received a straight red card from referee Scott Chalkley.
Stratford tried hard to with James Fry and Nabil Shariff both not far away with decent attempts but the Poppies held on to reinforce their title push with six wins out of six.
Poppies boss Marcus Law was understandably delighted, saying: “Stratford are a good side with some danger- ous players so we knew it would be a difficult game.
“But we scored some cracking goals and were looking comfortable until the sending off. The lad lunged in and left the referee with no choice but we saw the game out and overall it was a very professional performance.”
Stratford’s Darren Byfield was similarly upbeat. “We can take a lot of positives,” he said. “Kettering are top of the league and we matched them for long periods of the game. Their second goal killed us but we made them fight all the way.” STAR MAN: Lathaniel Rowe-Turner (K’ring) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★