McDonald's pride in Poppies as Real Bedford are swept aside at Latimer Park
Liam McDonald was bursting with pride after seeing his Kettering Town team maintain their play-off charge with a 2-1 win over third-placed Real Bedford on Saturday.
The Poppies remain fifth in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central ahead of their Easter Monday trip to Stratford Town (ko 3pm), but they are now just five points adrift of Real in third, with five matches to play.
Kettering led thanks to an 18th-minute goal from Will van Lier, before an error from goalkeeper Paul White gifted Ben Stevens an equaliser on the hour at Latimer Park.
Parity didn't last long though, as Eddie Panter slotted home a 62nd-minute penalty to win the game and wrap up three more precious points.
The Poppies have now won 10 of their past 13 matches, losing just one of those, and are the form team in the division as we hit the business end of the campaign.
"The boys worked so hard on Saturday," said McDonald. "For this level of football, Real Bedford are such a good team in terms of their build up play and the confidence they have.
"If we were going to go for a football game and tried to go toe-to-toe with them, we would have got beaten,
"We had to look at different ways as to how we could hurt them, and obviously set-plays is one, and we have score off one.
"But we also said we will soak pressure up, and it might just be one ball, and Eddie Panter will always cause them problems.
"He has terrorised them at times and for me, and this isn't taking anything away from Real Bedford, we could have maybe ended up winning by three or four.
"I am do proud of the boys, and we are keeping the train moving which is great.
"I think a lot of people may have thought Saturday would be a step to far because Real Bedford are the third best team in the league for a reason, but I did point out to the boys that we are the fifth best team in the league, and there's not much in it.
"We played a bit like the away team, and I know we are not always easy on the eye when we do that, but when we do play on the counter and Eddie has 30 yards of grass to run on to, the fans are excited by that."
Quotes courtesy of Peter Short