Alexandrou hails 'amazing' fightback as Kettering Town stun Rushall
Striker Theo Alexandrou felt Eddie Panter's early second-half strike was the key to Kettering Town's brilliant fightback against Rushall Olympic at Latimer Park on Tuesday night.
The Poppies moved up to fifth in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central thanks to their 3-2 win, but they had to do it the hard way after going in at half-time 2-0 down.
But Panter halved that deficit just three minutes into the second half to put Kettering tails up, and they never looked back.
Panter was on hand to score again and level the match on 53 minutes, before Jaiden White's penalty on 62 minutes made it 3-2 and sealed the three points for Poppies.
Asked about the momentum switch at the start of the second half, Alexandrou said: "You can feel it with the fans, on the bench, with the players and you just have to keep going and going.
"We pressed them for the first goal, which came at a great time, then we got the second and we then really believed in ourselves that we could go and win the game.
"The momentum was so crucial in the second half.
"It is difficult when you are 2-0 down, but we went out and it all just followed after that."
So what happened during the interval that led to things turning round?
"We were poor in the first half, we know that, and Greeny (joint boss Nick Green) told us what we needed to do," said Alexandroup.
"We changed formation, and then went out in the second half blazing.
"We could have had a few more goals really, there were a few penalty shouts."
The win came off the back of a 4-0 win over Leiston last midweek and then a 6-2 FA Trophy win over Quorn on Saturday, and Alexandrou added: "It is really starting to click for us now.
"That is 13 goals scored in 10 days or whatever it is, so we do seem to be electric in front of goal at the minute.
"That win on Tuesday was amazing after being 2-0 down."
Tuesday's win saw Kettering go fifth, and they are now just seven points behind leaders Real Bedford with a game in hand.
Bedford suffered a second defeat in three as they went down 1-0 at home to Stourbridge on Tuesday, and Saturday sees Kettering head to Stourbridge (ko 3pm).
Quotes courtesy of Peter Short