Cox wants to see something better from Poppies

Kettering Town and Buxton meet again tonight after drawing 2-2 at Latimer Park on Saturday. Picture by Peter Short

Kettering Town travel to Buxton tonight (Tuesday) for an Emirates FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay having been denied a place in the first round proper by a last-gasp equaliser at the weekend

Paul Cox is expecting more from his Kettering Town players when they battle it out for a place in the first round proper of the Emirates FA Cup tonight (Tuesday).

The Poppies squandered a 2-0 lead, given to them by first-half goals from Alex Brown and Callum Powell at Latimer Park on Saturday as unbeaten Northern Premier League side Buxton hit back in the second period.

Diego De Girolamo pulled a goal back and then, with just 90 seconds of injury-time left, the same player converted a penalty after a handball in the Poppies penalty area.

It was a bitter pill for Cox to swallow and, despite being from the level below, Buxton will now be fancied by many to finish the job on their 4G surface at The Silverlands this evening.

The winners will go on to a trip to York City or Morpeth Town, who also replay tonight, in the first round proper on November 6.

Cox knows that if Kettering are to get there then they are now going to have to do things the “hard way” having already come through replays in the second and third qualifying rounds.

But he believes his team are capable of a better performance than the one they turned in at the weekend.

“It’s happened, we live to fight another day,” the Poppies manager said.

“We have to go there and put in a better performance, which we are capable of.

“I didn’t think we were the real us on Saturday. The goals calmed us down but we huffed and puffed in the final third.

“Sometimes you have to go and do things the hard way.

“We have some good footballers and, whatever surface you’re on, you have to adapt and get over it.

“I do think better surfaces are better for us and players like the Callum Powells and Claudio Ofosus of this world.

“We will go there full of respect and try to win a football match and make sure we are the ones who are playing in the next round.

“It will be a tough game, it was on Saturday. We have to make sure we apply ourselves better for the whole 90 or 96 minutes.”

Kettering will have striker Kyle Perry available again after he served a one-match ban on Saturday.