Southport left Rockingham Road scratching their heads, as three goals in the final eight minutes saw Kettering romp out 5-2 winners, in a match where a draw would have seemed a fair result.

In a bizarre afternoon, with many weird events, Southport were on the back foot, until a calf injury to the linesman halted proceedings for ten minutes. Within two minutes of the restart, (as the Kettering Managing Director became the linesman!) Southport took the lead, as Neil Prince’s shot rebounded back to Michael Powell, who blasted the ball home from close range, catching the Kettering defence cold.

Kettering slowly got themselves back into the game, creating several chances to equalise, with Jean-Paul Marna looking ever dangerous. They finally equalised five minutes into the second half as Danny Holmes got caught in possession, allowing Marna to break free, being slightly caught in the box, with Craig Westcarr burying home the resultant penalty.

Clearly caught in celebration mode, Southport seized upon the home side’s mentality, regaining the lead two minutes later, as Lee spotted Mark Duffy free on the half way line. Duffy broke forward, and with only Lee Harper to beat in the home goal, deftly place the ball beyond the stranded keeper, much to the jubilation of the Southport supporters beind the goal.

Kettering drew level with twenty minutes to go, as Chris Beardsley’s shot took a cruel deflection off the back heal of Kevin Lee, thwarting Steve Drench as the ball trickled into the net.

As the game seemed to be petering out for a draw, following a couple of Kettering substitutions, the home team took the lead, as Southport failed to clear the ball out of their area on three or four occasions, with Brett Solkhon finally punishing the errors, blasting the ball home from close range. Clearly jaded, Southport allowed two goals in during stoppage time, as Marna skipped over several challenges, getting the ball to David Galbraith who slotted the ball home, followed by Andy Hall capitalising on Southport’s disappointment.