Vauxhall Motors 0 Kettering Town 6
LEAGUE leaders Kettering hit Motors for six on Saturday – and left the Ellesmere Port club facing a huge battle to avoid relegation.
The Poppies took charge of proceedings early on and Motors keeper Andrew Murphy made three smart saves before the visitors finally edged in front on 22 minutes. Unfortunately for Murphy, it came after he spilt a shot from distance by Craig Westcarr and Chris Beardsley was on hand to tuck away the loose ball from 12 yards.
Six minutes later, Jon Brady struck a sweet second from the right-hand edge of the area following a sweeping move and inch-perfect cross-field pass.
The Motormen rallied and it took a superb save by Lee Harper to deny Keith Smith following the hosts’ best move of the half, quickly followed by a decent stop from a fiercely-struck Paul Taylor shot.
But on 39 minutes, Kettering went 3-0 up when Westcarr proved his quality with an outstanding finish, firing a shot well beyond the reach of Murphy into the bottom corner.
Motors were hoping to hit back in the second half, but their chances of doing so were undermined when defender Mark Maddox was dismissed on his debut for a wild, but not malicious, challenge.
Shortly after, the Poppies’ Brett Solkhon headed home a fourth from close in following a well-worked corner.
On 62 minutes, it became 5-0 when a defensive slip on the edge of the Motors box enabled Jean-Paul Marna to join the goalscorers with a deflected shot from 20 yards.
And in the 80th minute, man-of-the-match Westcarr struck again when he clipped home a driven cross from substitute Andy Hall to complete the rout.
Vauxhall: Murphy, Williams, Owens, Hitchen, Robinson, Maddox, Heler, Griffiths, Smith, Egerton (Field 63), Taylor. Subs: McGrail, Roberts, Reed.
Attendance: 232.
