Kettering Town 3 Brackley Town 1 – Jon Dunham’s verdict

Harrison Neal takes the congratulations after scoring Kettering Town’s third goal in a 3-1 win over Brackley Town at Latimer Park. Pictures by Peter Short

Kettering Town took one of their best wins of the season to date when they stunned Vanarama National League North leaders Brackley Town with a 3-1 win in the Northamptonshire derby at Latimer Park.

In difficult conditions on a swampy course, after 15 days without a game due to Covid-19 problems, the Poppies grew to the situation and in the end they were worth each of the three points they got for their efforts.

Paul Cox’s team now has two wins in a row, moving up to 10th place in a crowded midfield.

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Brackley goalkeeper Danny Lewis is hit by Harrison Neal’s curling shot to give the Poppies a 3-1 lead

It just wasn’t Brackley’s day. The leaders struggled to get going in the face of an excited opponent, but they stayed on top after Gateshead suffered a surprise loss to the Blyth Spartans.

Brackley, who did without Glenn Walker, started better and Tre Mitford missed his target when he took advantage of a brief hesitation in the Kettering defense.

But it was the Poppies who took the lead after 19 minutes. Alex Brown took a free kick from the right and Brackley goalkeeper Danny Lewis didn’t quite get there as Chris Smith stood up to score his first goal in the Kettering colors.

There was little choice between the two teams for the remainder of the half-time, but it definitely got livened up after the break.

Kettering goalkeeper Jackson Smith parried Brackley’s Lee Ndlovu. with a nice parade

Kettering doubled his lead nine minutes after the restart.

Jordon Crawford, who sustained an ankle injury in a friendly midweek game in Harborough Town, sprinted ahead of Gaz Dean, who caught the front man.

The referee immediately pointed to the point and while Lewis made a fine stop to parry Callum Powell’s penalty, the Kettering man made no mistake rebounding.

But Brackley responded well and after Jackson Smith made a great save to keep Lee Ndlovu’s header off, they pulled one back after the next corner when Jordan Cullinane-Liburd came unmarked for a close-range header.

Jordan Cullinane-Liburd drove home for Brackley to make the 2-1

From then on, Kettering did a decent job killing the game, and Connor Barrett shot far after being played by the great Gary Stohrer.

But the decisive third came six minutes before full-time.

A corner was set back on Harrison Neal and the loaned midfielder then sent a curling shot into the far top corner to rave the majority of Latimer Park. It may have been a cross but he certainly didn’t care as he scored his first goal for the club.

After that there was no turning back for Brackley as Kettering did everything possible to achieve a well-deserved success.

Kettering: J. Smith; Johnson, Cooper, C. Smith; Barrett, Kennedy, Neal, Stohrer, Brown; Powell, Crawford (sub-sheriff, 70 mins). Unused subs: Stones, Ward, Sharpe, Milovanovic.

Brackley: Lewis; Dean, Lomas, Cullinane-Liburd; Myles (sub Rolt, 74 min.), Armson (sub Yusuf, 81 min.), Murombedzi, Lowe, Franklin (sub York, ht); Ndlovu, Mitford. Unused subs: plaster, lopes.

referee: Andrew Humphries.

goals: C Smith (19 min., 1-0), Powell (54 min., 2-0), Cullinane-Liburd (61 min., 2-1), Neal (84 min., 3-1).

Bookings: Elephant, Murombedzi, Neal, Armson, Johnson (all fouls).

Northant’s Telegraph Man of the Game: Gary Stohrer – this type of game was the premier league of the Kettering midfielder. In the middle of the field, he worked his socks off and tossed a few driving runs into the heart of the Brackley defense. This game was about hard work and Stohrer is the boss in that regard.