Kettering Town edge past Stafford Rangers to set up Cleethorpes tie in FA Cup

There was a collective sigh of relief at full time at Latimer Park as Kettering went from cruising through the match to hanging on by their fingernails against old foe Stafford Rangers.

Former Poppies players from the 1979 FA Trophy Final defeat to Stafford at Wembley attended the match, and would have been pleased with the workmanlike first half.

Boss Richard Lavery however was not so pleased, describing the performance as 'okay' at full-time.

The hosts took the lead on six minutes when Isiah Noel-Williams' cut-back ball in the area found Kai Fifield who calmly curled the ball with his left foot past Cameron Belford.

Luca Miller and Dan Jarvis wasted chances on 11 and 19 minutes respectively, but Kettering continued to go through the gears.

Miller's free-kick on 25 minutes needed a strong hand from Belford, whilst Stafford's first real opportunity came four minutes before the break but Sean Cooke could only send his shot over the bar.

The FA Cup record goalscorers would then immediately double their advantage.

Jarvis, Noel-Williams and Fifield were all involved before the latter slotted home into the bottom corner for his second goal, whic takes the Poppies three goals ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in the all-time FA Cup goalscoring charts.

Stafford came out stronger in the second half and had enough chances to get back into the game.

Dan Cockerhine's header on 52 minutes was well saved whilst Joe Robbins was all alone in acres of space but blasted over 10 minutes later.

Fifield was in on goal just before the hour, looking to complete the hat-trick, but was surrounded by Stafford defenders and could only send a weak shot towards Belford.

Cockerhine did finally give Stafford a lifeline on 72 minutes - collecting a long ball before lobbing Dan Jezpeh from 25 yards out.

Fans then held their breath on 86 minutes as the ball pinballed inside the Kettering box but the Poppies did just enough to complete the win.

Lavery was unable hide his displeasure at Kettering not taking their chances for a third game in a row.

"That was nowhere near where we've been in the last few weeks - you probably heard me in there (the changing room), nowhere near good enough." he said. "I'll take it, but I'm not anywhere near happy, but we go again.

"The game should have been out of sight at half-time - three, four, five and get the goal scoring tally up. We took our foot off the gas again. It doesn't matter what side comes here, they're going to get chances.

"Yeah the team did okay, but in my vocabulary okay isn't good enough. I'll always set high standards - they didn't meet high standards in this game."

The Poppies' reward is another home time in the Second Qualifying Round, this time against Step 4 side Cleethorpes Town.