Boss Lavery relieved as Poppies get the job done despite a mixed performance
Richard Lavery was left with mixed emotions after watching his Kettering Town side maintain their three-point advantage at the top of the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central on Saturday.
Jonny Edwards was the two-goal star as the Poppies battled to a 2-1 win against a niggly Bishop's Stortford side at Latimer Park.
The former St Ives Town man fired Kettering into a 2-0 lead, but there was then a nervy finale after the visitors pulled a goal back 15 minutes from time.
Kettering dug deep to see the game out though, and Lavery was relieved to get the points on the board despite his team not being at their best.
"It was good in the first-half, but not so great in the second half, but we will take the 2-1," he said. "I am disappointed about conceding the goal, but they were always going to have a go weren't they?
"The pitch wasn't great so it wasn't our sort of game, but in the first half we have controlled the game. But I will take the three points all day long and it doesn't matter how you play.
"You can talk about entertaining the crowd, but all the fans want to see is three points at the end of the game.
"We are never going to play perfect football on this pitch, especially now we are in December and the winter months.
"It is going to be hard, but it is all about winning three points and we did that on Saturday.
"They came to us with a gameplan, they slowed the game down, there were a lot of free-kicks and off the ball incidents that the referee didn't see.
"But their gameplan didn't work and they have gone home with no points."
The result was a perfect response to the surprise 2-1 loss at Barwell last Monday, which Lavery admits now might have been something of a wake-up call for his players.
"I tried to brush it under the carpet, but it was still in the back of my mind," said the Poppies boss. "I was raging with the performance at Barwell, but the loss might have been the kick up the rear that we needed.
"The three points make amends for it. It was a bad performance at Barwell, a good performance on Saturday, we are still top of the table, and I will take that."
Kettering, who jetted off to Dublin after Saturday's win for a two-day Christmas party, have a free midweek before travelling to struggling Spalding United on Saturday.
Interview by Peter Short