Lavery's pride as Kettering Town rewrite the history books with Cobblers Cup win

Last Saturday's 2-1 FA Cup first round win at Northampton Town will go down in Poppies folklore, with many observers believing the result to be the best in the club's 150-plus-year history.

The Cobblers, a league one club, were embarrassed on their own Sixfields pitch in front of the watching nation, with 1,500 lucky Kettering supporters making the 16-mile trip down the A43 to witness it.

Those fans had a day to remember, and it is an occasion and achievement that Lavery feels will never be forgotten.

"The result means so much to everybody around the club, and it will go down in history," said the Poppies boss.

"So when I am not there, and I move on from the club or get the sack or whatever, they will always remember the day. That is special."

As well as the team doing the business, the performance of the supporters inside the ground was pretty spectacular as well.

The Poppies fans arrived early and were making plenty of noise 30 minutes before kick-off, with the vocal backing continuing from the first minute of the game to the last and beyond.

And Lavery revealed he used their fantastic backing as an inspirational tool at half-time of normal time, with his team trailing 1-0 by virtue of Connor Johnson's unlucky own goal.

"I said in my team talk at half-time, I did a few notes on the board, and I said 'if we can turn their fans against them, and get our fans even louder, then we have got a chance'," he said.

"We got it back to 1-1 and all of a sudden the place erupted again.

"It was loud anyway, but it went even louder and the Northampton fans started to boo didn't they? So everything I wrote on the board came true.

"It was a fantastic night for everybody involved.

"This is what we are in football for, and days like that don't come around very often."

The Poppies were deserved winners on the day, with the Cobblers struggling to get any sort of game together, and Lavery accepts that Jon Brady's hands were tied due to a lengthy injury list and a key suspension.

But he insists those issues take nothing away from Kettering's achievement.

"Everything in the week was going right for us," admitted Lavery.

"Northampton had a few injuries, the lad got suspended (Tyler Roberts), and I said to my staff that I had a feeling we would go there and win.

"I know that is probably being a little big-headed, but I just had a feeling.

"We are doing well, it's a local derby, so forget the league status and the fact they are four leagues higher than us.

"That doesn't come into the equation for me in the FA Cup, it is 11 against 11, and whoever is best on the night will get the result.

"I did feel sorry for Jon, because he is down to bare bones, but in hindsight they still should have had enough to beat us.

"I thought we looked the fitter side, all the subs played a part, and everything just fell into place."