Boss Lavery unhappy as Poppies stumble to draw against 10-man Stratford Town

The Poppies had the advantage of playing with an extra man for an hour following the first-half dismissal of home defender Finley Brennan.

But despite twice taking the lead and also missing a penalty, they were left somewhat relieved to come away from The DCS Stadium with a share of the spoils thanks to Callum Powell's goal to make it 3-3 on 78 minutes.

Poppies led 1-0 through a Gary Stohrer goal when Brennan wsa sent off for a foul in the box on Tyree Wilson.

Jonny Edwards saw the resultant spot-kick saved, and two minutes later it was 1-1 as red-hot Stratford striker Callum Ebanks levelledt to make it 1-1.

Lewis White made it 2-1 to Kettering on 49 minutes to seemingly set his side on course for victory, but the home side had other ideas with an Owen James strike and another from the lively Ebanks seeing them take an unlikely 3-2 lead.

Powell did come to the rescue to salvage a point, but Lavery was not impressed with his team's second-half showing.

"That was not a good game for me," groaned the Poppies boss. "I thought in the first half we probably controlled the game, bar their goal, and in the second half they have stuck everybody behind the ball.

"We have scored three goals away from home, and ended up drawing the game, and that can't happen against 10 men.

"I did call it at half-time that there was one man that would get them in the game (Ebanks), and that happened because he is one of the best in the league, that is what he gets paid to do.

"Our back four have been great all season, but in the second half they were poor. Ebanks has manhandled them, and he has got Stratford a draw."

On Edwards' missed penalty that would have put his side 2-0 ahed, Lavery added: "If we score that then it is a different game, but I am not going to blame Jonny.

"He has been great for us and has scored goals, and I am not one to blame people. He has missed the penalty, but they have then gone and scored after the penalty.

"Goals change games, change team talks, and people might say that is a good point away from home at Straford, but not for me.

"We played well in the first half and then in the second we haven't really turned up, we have gone route one and it didn't quite work.

"It is hard against 10 men, because they sat behind the ball and tried to catch us on the counter-attack, and they did that.

"I said to the back four, just stay at home and be a back four, it will be four against one and we should be able to deal with that, but we didn't deal with it."

Despite the disppointment of not winning, the Poppies actually extended their lead at the top of the table to five points with a game in hand as second-placed Halesowen were beaten 3-1 at Bedford Town.

Lavery's side return to action on New Year's Day when they travel to Harborough Town, who will be high on confidence after they thrashed Leiston 4-0 on Saturday to move two places above the relegation zone.

"Harborough is a local derby on New Year's Day and it is a lottery isn't it?," admitted Lavery.

"They will be up for it, hopefully my players will be up for it, and we will go from there."

Interview by Peter Short