VERDICT: Sheriff’s hat-trick helps Poppies to FA Cup success

Decarrey Sheriff converts the penalty which completed his hat-trick in their 4-1 win at Barwell. Picture by Peter Short

It took a much-improved second-half display for the Poppies to eventually prove too powerful for their Southern League Premier Central hosts as Lee Glover’s team claimed a much-needed second win of the campaign.

But while Sheriff rightly takes the headlines, goalkeeper Cameron Gregory produced the key moment of the game as he brilliantly saved Brady Hickey’s penalty when Kettering were only 2-1 to the good.

Glover named an unchanged starting XI from the 1-0 defeat at Leamington on Tuesday night with the fit-again Ben Sault returning to the squad on the substitutes’ bench.

The first half proved to be a poor affair with neither side taking a grip on proceedings.

Some of Kettering’s approach play was neat and tidy but they struggled to trouble Andy Wycherley in the home goal.

The same could be said for Barwell with Poppies goalkeeper Gregory, who was clearly carrying a knock of some sort, rarely called into action.

But it was Barwell who broke deadlock out if nowhere just past the half-hour.

It was a horror show from Kettering as Beck-Ray Enoru was allowed to run into the area unchallenged and he found Tiago Nassunculo who made no mistake with a close-range finish.

The Poppies tried to respond and Sheriff saw an effort cleared away before they drew level on the stroke of half-time.

And it was all fairly simple as Keaton Ward delivered a corner to the far post and Brad Gascoigne was there to power home a header.

The overall performance needed to improve and Kettering did start the second half brightly as they took the lead six minutes after the restart.

Again, there was a real simplicity about it as Rhys Sharpe launched a long throw into the area, Andre Wright nodded it down and Sheriff stabbed home from six yards.

But any hopes of the Poppies pulling away looked to be a long way off when Barwell were handed the chance to level things up as Lewis White brought down Nassunculo in the area.

Barwell’s talisman Hickey stepped but Gregory flung himself to his left to brilliantly tip the spot-kick onto the post before the ball was hacked clear.

It wasn’t long before Gregory was called back into action as Barwell put the pressure on, this time producing a flying stop to tip George Ward’s free header from a corner over the bar.

It was end-to-end stuff for a while but the Poppies gave themselves a bit of breathing space with 19 minutes to go.

Ethan Hill, only just on as a substitute, switched the play out to the left. He found Keaton Ward and he slipped the ball through to Sheriff who produced an excellent first-time finish past Wycherley and into the far corner.

And it was game over just five minutes later as Sheriff was brought down in the area and wasted no hesitation in grabbing the ball and calmly sending Wycherley the wrong way from 12 yards to give himself an FA Cup hat-trick.

With their tails well and truly up, the Poppies went in search of more and Gary Stohrer saw a long-range effort tipped over by Wycherley before the impressive Keaton Ward was just off target with a fierce strike late on.

In the end, the Poppies had to settle for four but it was a banana skin safety negotiated.

Now they will hope the win can be a springboard for some tough National League North games ahead.

Barwell: Wycherley; G Ward (sub Edwards, 81 mins), Rowley, Ngoma, Bushaj; Brown-Hill; Enoru (sub Master, 81 mins), Hickey, Brogan, Nassunculo; Harding (sub Moore, 75 mins). Subs not used: Lee.

Poppies: Gregory; White, Cooper, Gascoigne, Sharpe; Reilly (sub Hill, 69 mins), Stohrer, K Ward; Owulabori (sub Toseland, 88 mins), Wright, Sheriff (sub Sault, 82 mins). Subs not used: Graham, Hogg, Bennett, Richard-Noel,

Referee: Dale Wootton.

Goals: Nassunculo (33 mins, 1-0), Gascoigne (45 mins, 1-1), Sheriff (51 mins, 1-2), Sheriff (71 mins, 1-3), Sheriff pen (76 mins, 1-4),

Bookings: G Ward, White, Bushaj (all fouls),

Northants Telegraph man-of-the-match: Decarrey Sheriff - there has to be a big mention for Cameron Gregory after his brilliant penalty save when the Poppies were 2-1 up. But Sheriff once again showed what he is capable of with a couple of smart finishes and then a cool penalty as he helped himself to an FA Cup hat-trick.

Attendance: 402.