Poppies legend Solkhon targets a quick finish to the title race

The Poppies legend added another crucial goal to his collection as he came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner and seal a 2-1 success over Rushall Olympic at Latimer Park last weekend.

That made it six wins in a row for Kettering and sent them eight points clear with two games in hand after second-placed Stourbridge went down 1-0 to a late goal at Tamworth.

With 11 games to go, Marcus Law’s team need a maximum of 20 points to be crowned champions and a crucial week is now approaching with Saturday’s trip to Lowestoft Town being followed by back-to-back home matches against Coalville Town and Banbury United, which will represent their two games in hand on their nearest rivals.

And while Solkhon concedes there is excitement building in the Poppies dressing-room, he knows they can’t afford to take a struggling Lowestoft side lightly after the shocked Stourbridge with a 1-0 win in Suffolk in early February.

“I think there is a bit of excitement in there now with a couple of months left,” said the midfielder, whose crucial goal last Saturday was his 113th in his 557th appearance for the club.

“We know what we need to be mathematically certain but we are just enjoying the experience because opportunities like this don’t come around very often.

“We want to win it as soon as possible so that we can relax a bit!

“It’s not over until it’s mathematically done and we just have to carry on doing what we have been doing.

“We know it’s a big week coming up.

“And we have got to go to Lowestoft in the right frame of mind because if we take our foot off the gas, we know they are a team who can pull off a result against teams who are up there.

“We want to win this league as soon as possible and we will be looking for another three points at the weekend and then look to move on from there.”