Cox delighted as 'brilliant' Poppies seal a fine away win

Paul Cox celebrates with captain Connor Kennedy after Kettering Town's fine 2-0 win at Gloucester City. Pictures by Peter Short

Paul Cox hailed a “brilliant” performance as Kettering Town claimed a superb 2-0 victory at Gloucester City to make it a fruitful bank holiday weekend.

Having been held to a 1-1 draw by Farsley Celtic at Latimer Park on Saturday, the Poppies made the trip west to take on a Gloucester team who are fancied to be among the frontrunners in the Vanarama National League North.

But Kettering stunned the home crowd at New Meadow Park as two second-half goals from Callum Powell secured all three points and a first away win of the campaign.

The celebrations start after Callum Powell's first goal at New Meadow Park

Powell opened the scoring just before the hour after exchanging passes with Harrison Neal.

And the forward doubled the advantage with 16 minutes to go, hammering into the roof of the net.

“I thought we were in control of the game from start to finish,” Poppies boss Cox said.

“The players were excellent, they took on board what we were trying to get across to them and even when Gloucester were trying to press on us late on I thought our game management was excellent which was an improvement from Saturday.

Kettering's Callum Powell reminds everyone of the scoreline after his two goals earned all three points

“Overall, I am just really happy with how we went about our business. I thought every single one of the 11 were brilliant.

“It’s not a secret that Gloucester have invested heavily and they are full-time so to go down there and do what we did was pleasing.

“The thing now is to make sure we keep everybody’s feet on the floor and for the players to understand that they have set the standard. We now need to develop that consistency in our game moving forward.”

Cox reserved special praise for Powell and strike partner Isaac Stones, who scored his first league goal for the club on Saturday, but admitted it was a “proper team performance” from his side.

“I thought the front two worked really hard and were a handful and they were on Saturday as well,” he added.

“The 3G surface probably suited the front two better in this game and we let Powelly off his leash a little bit.

“But it was a proper team performance and everyone played their part. The shape of the side was good, the commitment was there and some of the football we played was excellent. It was very pleasing.”

The Poppies are back at Latimer Park on Saturday when they entertain early leaders AFC Fylde, who made it four wins from four matches with a 2-1 victory over Southport today (Monday).