Hooper quickly off the mark as Kettering Town battle to see off rivals Stourbridge
Kettering Town laid down a serious marker to the rest of the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central clubs as they won the top of the table clash against Stourbridge 2-0 at Latimer Park on Tuesday night.
It wasn't easy, it certainly wasn't pretty and it wasn't as entertaining as previous encounters between these sides.
But Kettering rose above the Glassboys' route-one tactics and robust defending to edge the game.
It was a classic non-league encounter.
Tackles coming in at all angles on the slick surface and every aerial battle robustly challenged for.
Having Nile Ranger and Gary Hooper on the bench does give you an advantage - but the former was quiet throughout the second half.
However, former Celtic and Norwich City star Gary Hooper took just five minutes from coming on to make an impact and seal the points.
The first half was a relatively quiet affair with neither side wanting to give an inch.
It was two freekicks that were the outstanding chances of the first 45 minutes.
On 10 minutes Andi Thanoj stung the hands of Ollie Taylor with a fierce set-piece.
Seven minutes later and Alex Bradley responded with his own free kick - his effort slightly floatier, but needed to be turned over by Dan Jezeph.
Bradley had the first out and out chance of the second half after Jourdain Masidi was fairly tackled by Connor Johnson, but the striker could only tamely shoot at Jezeph.
With the clock running down, the Poppies took the lead through Isiah Noel-Williams.
On 74 minutes, the brilliant Aaron Powell wriggled free to reach the box and put the ball across the face of goal for Noel-Williams to eventually get the ball out of his feet and slide the ball past Taylor.
Hooper's introduction was met with great applause and he immediately set about causing additional problems for the visitors.
Then on 89 minutes he sealed the points - receiving the ball in the middle of the park before beating Joel Kettle and prodding the ball past Taylor when one on one.
He immediately pointed at the crowd to celebrate his introduction to the Latimer Park faithful.
A total of 1,551 were in attendance at Latimer Park.
The FA Cup maybe the reason they were there, as vouchers were being dished out ahead of Wednesday’s tickets going on sale for the first round tie at Northampton Town.
But the fans who turned out for this game remember the night when Kettering Town made an early claim to be champions elect!