It's an unhappy new year for Kettering Town as they slide to Harborough Town defeat

What will make defeat to Harborough even more galling is that neither defence or attack showed up to offer hope of leaving South Leicestershire with even a point.

Even a wonder strike from Kai Fifield and the endless running from Callum Powell did little to warm the spirits of the large Kettering following on a bitterly cold day.

Kettering did have the first attack when on two minutes Fifield surged into the area before squaring to Powell, who was knocked off the ball by non-league stalwart Liam Dolman sending the shot on goal wide.

But from there it was the hosts who enjoyed the more encouraging start.

Alex Morris’s run down the left of the field saw him waltz past several white shirts before passing to Luis Rose on nine minutes who saw his shot blocked.

Rose had another opportunity on 16 minutes after a poor pass from Luca Miller was intercepted, eventually falling to the feet of Rose but Dan Jezeph made a smart save with his leg before leaping high to parry away the ball and keep the Bees from taking the lead.

Jezeph was needed again eight minutes later when Harborough capitalised on a poor Kettering corner and within three passes, the ball was with former Poppy Ben Stephens who drilled the ball from the edge of the area but the Kettering keeper dived low to his left to make the save.

Harborough deservedly opened the scoring on 29 minutes when yet another mistake, this time from Lewis White easily giving up possession to Stephens, who then ran 20 yards towards goal before neatly applying the finish beyond Jezeph.

Kettering did briefly wake up to level the scores on 39 minutes.

Nile Ranger, who had been struggling as the lone target man in place of the out-of-form Jonny Edwards, linked will with new signing Terell Pennant, but instead of shooting when the opportunity arose when in the box, he passed out to the edge of the area where the waiting Fifield curled a delicious shot past the diving Elliott Taylor.

But before the collective sigh from half of the sell-out crowd could be finished, Harborough retook the lead.

All four stationery Kettering defenders were adamant that Stephens was offside when a long ball over the top was played through – that didn’t stop the Bees striker brilliantly lobbing Jezeph and then wheeling away in celebration before the ball had dropped into the net.

Stephens should have completed his hat-trick on 44 minutes when a carbon copy ball once again beat the Kettering defence but the drilled shot to the right of Jezeph was well saved.

Debutant Pennant, signed on New Year’s Eve from Rushall Olympic, saw a long-range effort nodded off the line on 49 minutes by Morris, while Fifield saw his shot just yards out from goal go agonisingly wide on 54 minutes as the Poppies tried to get a foothold.

A last-ditch challenge from White denied Rose a certain chance on goal on 66 minutes as Kettering defence was woefully beaten again.

Four minutes later a brilliant solo run from the halfway line by Juttore Burgess nearly sealed the points, but the resulting pass to Riley O’Sullivan ended in a shot that was dragged wide past a well-beaten Jezeph.

The final period was a nervous midfield battle with Kettering enjoying the bulk of possession, but they continuously chose the wrong options when in the final third - with poor crosses into the area which were easily defended by the towering Harborough defence.

The introduction of Edwards and Isiah Noel-Williams had zero impact on the attack as the visitors could only create only one further chance when Powell raced down the left before cutting in and rifling a shot into the side netting on 89 minutes.

The Poppies’ recent form will start to concern fans and management alike, with only eoght points only taken from the past five games.

More worryingly is that they have gained only two points on the road in their last four matches – two of which were on artificial surfaces which should benefit the side, while in the Stratford Town match, they had a man advantage for over an hour and still could not capitalise.

With AFC Telford and Halesowen both losing, Kettering had yet another opportunity to extend their lead and take a stranglehold on the league.

Instead, wins for Stratford Town and Bedford Town mean that five teams are now in the title mix and eyes will turn to owner George Akhtar should the Poppies fail to fire against Halesowen at Latimer Park on Saturday.