Jarvis doubles up as Kettering Town ease to victory at struggling Hitchin
Kettering Town were made to work hard before eventually pulling away from a dogged Hitchin Town side to earn a 3-0 victory in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central on Saturday.
Despite having not registered a point this term, Brett Donnelly's Hitchin are a threat to any side - taking AFC Telford all the way in their previous game before eventually losing 5-4 in a seesaw battle.
But Kettering took to their task with relative ease but needed to ride their luck early on in the second half before two late goals sealed a deserved three points.
Two changes forced upon Richard Lavery meant places in the starting XI for both Luca Miller and Dan Jarvis - with the latter putting in a man of the match performance.
It didn't take long for Kettering to set about their work with Wes York forcing a last ditch block on five minutes whilst Kai Fifield needed little invitation to shoot from outside the area four minutes later, but Kyle Forster in the Hitchin goal was able to tip the ball over the bar.
The early pressure eventually led to the opening goal.
Another slick move involving Miller and Fifield resulted in finding Jarvis open to calmly slot home on 12 minutes.
Hitchin nearly hit back immediately with their first chance of the game but Coree Wilson could only head over the bar, whilst Alex Kpakpe, along with most of the home support, was aghast not to be awarded a penalty on 17 minutes.
At the other end Kyle Forster was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers - first saving well from York on 26 minutes and needed all of his strength to deny another Fifield effort from outside the area on 38 minutes.
The final effort of the half belonged to the hosts when Liam Brooks tried an audacious bicycle kick from close range, narrowly putting the ball over the bar.
Another warning for Kettering came soon after the restart. Nobody in a red shirt picked up Wilson who was played through one-on-one against Dan Jezeph, who got the merest of touches to turn the ball wide for a corner.
Hitchin went for broke throwing on even more attacking substitutions and created further chances early in the second half. Sam Caiger's ball across the face of goal narrowly evaded the three waiting yellow shirts in the Kettering area on 50 minutes whilst Wilson saw another shot deflected on 56 minutes.
Kettering finally began to find their rhythm just before the hour mark when Devon Kelly-Evans produced a shot which harmlessly sailed over the bar. Ben Hart went down in the area on 62 minutes but no penalty was awarded.
It was Luca Miller who made the game safe for the visitors with just his second goal for the club. He took a touch and turned before drilling a shot past Forster on 72 minutes.
With the crucial second goal secured, Kettering ably saw out the game with no further real alarms from Hitchin.
Substitute Remaye Campbell continues to hunt for the elusive first goal of the season after seeing another shot well saved by Forster on 85 minutes.
Jarvis was able to add gloss to the performance with his second goal deep into stoppage time.
Hitchin allowed him far too much space inside the area to take a number of touches before sending the ball past a rooted Forster.
It is early days yet, but the Poppies find themselves fourth in the table with seven points after four games – it took them nine games last season to amass the same number of points.
They trail leaders Stamford by three points.
Things certainly continue to look positive for Lavery's men ahead of a Bank Holiday local showdown against Market Harborough at Latimer Park (ko 3pm).
Harborough also go into that game on a high having claimed their first win of the season on Saturday, beating Bedford Town 2-1.