Untroubled by the blustery conditions in Leicestershire, the Poppies provided one of their most assured away performances this season with a 2-5 victory over relegation threatened Barwell on Saturday. The result lifted Kettering into the playoff places and provided a fantastic curtain raiser to the Bank Holiday schedule starting with a Good Friday encounter with third placed Real Bedford at Latimer Park, kick off 15:00.

‘The Pirates’ won a pulsating 2-1 home victory on Saturday against promotion rivals Halesowen with a ninety-sixth minute winner from Morrell which followed an earlier 2-2 draw against league leaders Harborough. Real Bedford’s performances have meant that for the most of the season they have been in and around the top five. However, despite playing promotion hopefuls, their recent league form has been sporadic, with four wins, four draws and two defeats in their last ten games. The Pirates are unbeaten in their past five games achieving two wins (2-1 against Halesowen; 3-0 versus AFC Stamford) and three draws (2-2 again at home to Harborough; 0-0 at home Worcester City and 1-1 away against Harborough). This leaves Real Bedford, managed by Rob Sinclair, two places above KTFC in third place, with sixty-nine points from thirty-six games with eight points separating the teams having played the same number of games. In the form league, they are in seventh place over the past five games and in the comparative away standings reside in third place for the season taking thirty-four points from eighteen games.

Real Bedford have recently secured the services of midfielder Sam Collins, who joins them on loan from King’s Lynn Town for the remainder of the season.

For the Poppies, Harvey Peters joined the club on Friday and made his debut in the heart of the defence on Saturday.

KTFC, unbeaten in four, have over our last five matches recorded three wins (3-1 against Quorn; back-to-back wins against AFC Sudbury 1-4 and 6-0;) a single draw (0-0 at home to Banbury United) and a 0-2 defeat at home against Alvechurch) scoring fourteen and conceding four. The Poppies have lost only once in the past eleven matches.

Kettering are once again top of the in-form league, just in time for the run-in taking thirteen points from a possible fifteen in our past five matches and are ninth in the overall home table with thirty-one points from seventeen games. The Poppies are in playoff contention in the league with sixty-one points, with just one point separating four teams all vying for a top five finish.   

At the top of the table, league leaders Harborough Town, who have secured their playoff place with a 2-2 draw in midweek against Real Bedford, are at home to Bury Town, Spalding United entertain Bromsgrove Sporting, with Real Bedford in third hosting Halesowen Town in fourth and Quorn travelling to Stratford.

The teams have only met twice in all competitions, and last time out, the Poppies won 2-0 at Latimer Park with goals from Lobjoit and Lewis. With six games left to play, four at home, a double over The Pirates would be a great result whilst a defeat does not condemn KTFC to another season in the PISLPC.

However, the competition for the last three playoff places is fierce and with such fine margins the test for the Poppies comes on Good Friday and we can hope that taking four points from the Easter fixtures can resurrect KTFC’s push for playoff glory. So let’s get behind Liam and the team as the exciting run in goes down to the wire.

Enjoy the game.

REAL BEDFORD

Season        V        Comp           F-A     Att:    Poppies Scorers

2024-25        A        Friendly      2-2     203     Hart, (Trialist – Sherif)

2025-26        A        PISLPC        2-0    1084    Lobjoit, Lewis

Played for both clubs (1)                                                    

Sam Cartwright.

Real Bedford players sent off v Kettering Town (1)

Archie Jones           23:08:25 (a)

REAL BEFORD – THE LAST 3 SEASONS

                         LEAG           P        W       D        L        F        A    PTS    POS  

2024-25        PISLD1C      40       33       5        2        129     33    104     1^st

2023-24        SSMLP         36       28       7        1        117     24    91       1^st

2022-23        SSML1         38       32       3        3        123     29    99       1^st

REAL BEDFORD

Manager                           Rob Sinclair

Ground                             The Ledger Stadium

Nickname                         The Pirates

Position in League           3^rd – 69pts from 36 games

Top League Scorer            22 – Joshua Allen

FORM (last 5)
POPPIES                WWWDW     13pts
Pirates                    DDWDW       9pts

REAL BEDFORD SO FAR…