Quickfire fightback stuns Rushall as Kettering Town move up to fifth
Kettering Town produced a stunning second half comeback to defeat play-off rivals Rushall Olympic 3-2 in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central at Latimer Park.
It was a reversal of the score from the earlier fixture between the two sides back in September and just like then, they produced a thrilling encounter which deserved more than the 642 in attendance.
Kettering enjoyed far more of the ball in the early stages that produced a snap shot from Eddie Panter on nine minutes - the same striker also going down in the area a little too easily for referee Callum Timperley's liking a few minutes later.
But the well drilled Pics side kept their hosts at bay and took the lead on 22 minutes with a quick move on the left which resulted in a low cross from Dan Chimeziri that was driven home by Lewis Corbett.
Six minutes later and Kettering were inexplicably 2-0 down - Luke Yates given far too much room to look up from just outside the area and thump his shot low beyond the right hand of Paul White.
The Poppies continued to huff and puff to produce a shot from Theo Alexandrou on 40 minutes that was easily saved.
But their real mettle was shown in the second-half.
Pressing their visitors a little quicker straight from the restart, Kettering caused havoc to turn the scoreline around within 16 minutes.
First a low driven shot by Panter outside the area who had two green shirts for company as his effort slipped past Ollie Taylor of 48 minutes.
Five minutes later and the scores were level when Ismael Fatadjo's cross was bundled in at the near post by Panter.
On 62 minutes the comeback was completed when Alexandrou was brought down by Todd Alcock and a debatable penalty was given.
Jayden White was the man for the task to calmly slot home the spot kick into the bottom corner.
The job of holding onto the lead was made tougher when Lewis Coyle picked up two yellow cards in quick succession to reduce Kettering to 10-men for the final 12 minutes.
But apart from a late effort from Liam McAlinden that was well palmed away by White, the Poppies professionally saw out the final period to hold on to a brilliant win that takes them to fifth in the table and keep up their recent momentum.
They are also now just seven points off top dogs Real Bedford, and with a game in hand, after the leaders lost 1-0 at home to Stourbridge.