Kettering Town could hardly have chosen a better time to record their first away victory of the season in the Nationwide Conference in view of their AXA FA Cup first round replay at home to Wrexham on Wednesday.
And they must now consider Haig Avenue as one of their lucky grounds as they also won there by the only goal last season.
But it might have been a totally different story had Southport not missed a penalty after just four minutes play.
Goalkeeper Adam Sollitt brought down Southport skipper Andy Gouck in the penalty area but then redeemed himself by saving Ian Arnold’s spot kick, diving to his right to turn the ball aside for the corner.
Despite that miss Southport dominated virtually the whole of the first half but they found it difficult to break down a solid visiting defence in which skipper Colin Vowden led by example. And when they did get through Sollitt was there to make several vital saves.
Indeed Kettering might have led at the interval had it not been for a superb one-handed Steve Dickinson save from a fierce volley by Ian Ridgway.
But Dickinson will have been disappointed by his contribution to Kettering’s winning goal nine minutes from the end. He had plenty of time to gather a centre from the left by Carl Adams but he hesitated fatally and substitute Chris Perkins, currently on a month’s loan from Southend nipped in to head the ball passed him and into the empty net.
A strong cold wind posed problems for both sides but they contrived to produce periods of good football only for most of their attacks to break down before they got within striking distance.
Immediate before and after their goal Kettering looked the more dangerous side and their winning margin might have been greater if substitute Sam Banya had not fired over from close range in the closing minutes.
Southport’s overall performance was disappointing after their excellent display in the FA Cup at Darlington last week but their manager Paul Futcher was philosophical. He said: “Kettering came to frustrate us and they did just that. Even so I felt we should have won. But missing that early penalty proved to be costly.” And Southport’s spectators were far from happy particularly after the late substitution of Arnold, who had been the only player to make any sustained impression up front. Ironically Arnold’s failure to convert the spot kick was against one of his former clubs.
Match Report from http://football.sports.com