Kettering Town set for tough test against in-form Southport

Kettering Town have one final piece of business in front of them before Christmas as they take on in-form Southport in a re-arranged Vanarama National League North clash at Latimer Park tonight (Tuesday).

The Poppies will go into the clash feeling a bit better about themselves after they ended a four-game run without a win in impressive fashion at the weekend as two goals from Jordon Crawford and one each from George Cooper and Callum Powell earned a 4-0 success at Leamington.

In what is proving to be a tight-knit top half of the table, Kettering could jump from 15th place to eighth with another victory this evening.

But to do that, they will have to get past one of the in-form teams in the league.

Having failed to win any of their first seven league games of the season, Liam Watson’s Sandgrounders are currently on an unbeaten run of 12 matches in all competitions and have won their last four including last weekend’s 3-0 success over Farsley Celtic in the third round of the Buildbase FA Trophy.

And Poppies assistant-manager John Ramshaw knows it will be a tough task for his team this evening.

“They (Southport) are bang in form and they were bang in form again at the weekend when they won in the FA Trophy,” Ramshaw said.

“The gaffer (Paul Cox) and I have known Liam for a long time and he always puts out a very competitive side.

“They will be very direct, very strong and very hard to play against so it’s another excellent test.

“It would be nice to go into the Christmas period with two wins under our belt but we know it will be a tough task against a team who are going very well at the moment.”

Following tonight’s game, the Poppies are due to play at Brackley Town on Boxing Day before hosting Kidderminster Harriers at Latimer Park a week today.