Gyasi and Alexandrou strikes see Poppies edge past impressive Doughboys in FA Cup replay
Kettering Town edged another enthralling FA Cup tie as they narrowly beat county rivals Wellingborough Town 2-1 to progress to the next round of the Emirates FA Cup on Tuesday night.
Once again the Doughboys can feel aggrieved at the final result as, similarly to Saturday's first tie, they bettered their hosts in several departments and should have gone in at half time with a lead.
Neo Richard-Noel could have scored as early as the fifth minute when a ball from the right rolled across the face of goal, but he couldn't apply the final touch
The men in yellow started the match much the brighter side, but Theo Alexandrou set up Poppies striker Michael Gyasi on 13 minutes, but the Bedford loanee delayed his shot and was brilliantly blocked.
Lloyd Buckby was a constant threat for the Doughboys, and his audacious effort from a tight angle on 23 minutes went close.
Kettering remained on the back foot right until the final minute of the half and should have gone into the break a goal down.
A direct ball was played through to Danny Draper - and with a two-on-one Wellingborough had the goal at their mercy, but the shot was dragged wide of Paul White's post.
To then add salt to the wound, the Poppies opened the scoring just a minute later.
Gyasi bombed into the area but always appeared to be going wide of goal.
The merest of touches from Dean Snedker brought the striker down, and the referee pointed to the spot.
Gyasi dusted himself off to roll the spot kick beyond the Borough keeper - much to the relief of most of the 1,000-plus supporters inside Latimer Park.
Six minutes after the restart the Poppies doubled their lead when a driving run from Gyasi was completed by a neat finish by Alexandrou, and the result suddenly seemed in the bag.
But the Doughboys, who played 180 superb minutes of football over the two ties, set up a grandstand finish.
With five minutes remaining, Corvell Pickering forced the ball across the box and off of a Kettering player and into the net.
Two further visitor corners caused havoc for Kettering late on, but they somehow held on for the win and will now face Quorn at Latimer Park in the next round on September 19.