Assistant-boss Fry full of praise for Poppies’ ‘resilience’

The visitors dominated the early exchanges of the Vanarama National League North clash, forcing the Poppies to change their shape in a bid to stem the flow.

And it looked like Kettering were getting a foothold in the game until Lewis White was sent-off for a second bookable offence just past the hour.

From there, the Poppies were forced to hold on and they saw the game out to put another point on the board and make it four games without defeat on home soil.

And Fry, who has been working alongside manager Lee Glover, said: “It’s the sort of performance that’s been coming for a while.

“Take nothing away from Banbury, they are a very good football team and we knew they would want to have a lot of the ball.

“The way we set up initially wasn’t quite working when it came to enforcing our game so we had to make a change.

“It’s nice we are able to do that and be so effective and, up until the sending-off, we were getting more momentum in the game, we were on the front foot and we had the crowd behind us.

“The red card has gone against us but two or three weeks ago, people would have expected us to leak goals in.

“Banbury are a very good side 11 versus 11 so when it goes to 10 versus 11, it’s always going to be a struggle.

“I won’t comment too much on the sending-off, we will watch it back but I thought there were a few decisions that could be questioned.

“It was right in front of us, I thought their player was very clever with it and I thought the second yellow was harsh.

“But that’s football. Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you.

“I am just buzzing with the reaction from the players. It would have been nice to have had 11 v 11 but if we can’t win, we don’t want to lose. To grind out a result like that is a positive.

“The boys stuck together, they showed resilience and they have kept a clean sheet.

“The crowd can be really proud of that performance.”