Alty 1 Kettering Town 1

10:38pm Saturday 16th August 2008

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A VALUABLE point earned but disappointment was the overriding feeling as Alty drew 1-1 with Kettering Town.

It was the second time in five days the Robins had failed to beat a newly-promoted team at Moss Lane, following Tuesday's defeat to Barrow - undoubtedly another chance missed.

Once more they had to come from behind, Gareth Seddon drilling home an early penalty for Kettering.

And although they played into the visitors' hands for long spells, failing to exploit weaknesses in Kettering's physically imposing back four, Alty finally got it right late on.

Mark McGregor's first goal for the club sealed what was probably a fair result.

After all the talk this week about eradicating errors, Alty proved old habits die hard.

Just four minutes in Lawton made a reckless - and utterly needless - challenge on Alfie Potter inside the box, sliding in and getting nowhere near the ball as he brought him to the ground.

Former Hyde striker Seddon stepped up and drilled the spot kick straight down the middle. Stuart Coburn got a touch wasn't about to stop the absolute bullet of a shot.

Lead established, Kettering aimed more to preserve their advantage than chase goals and glory, letting them play the ball around but giving them nothing to work with up front.

The Robins did create chances but little to cause Kettering any serious worry.

Little might have hoped to do better when he got on the end of a defence-splitting through ball from Dale Johnson but instead shot quite tamely at Lee Harper.

Chris Denham had a half chance, getting his head to a cross from Greg Young but only able to divert the ball wide of the post.

Although they didn't enjoy much luck up front, Alty had a huge slice on the defensive end.

After Brett Solkhon had charged down a clearance and put the loose ball into the net, the referee pulled the game back for a handball on the midfielder's part.

It looked more a case of ball to hand than handball.

But four minutes before the break, Alty so very nearly drew level.

A beautiful 30-yard crossfield ball from Colin Little found Denham in space and he did what he does best, running at the defence and cutting inside Tommy Jaszczun before placing a shot towards the bottom corner of the net that Harper did well to save.

Opportunities were more forthcoming in the second half.

Lawton was unlucky when his speculative lob from 20 yards just dipped over the bar following a poor punch clear from Harper.

Often the source of inspiration was Denham, who worked tirelessly and skilfully on the right flank.

One run in particular merited a goal when the winger jinked his way past two defenders despite having very little space to work in and stood up an inviting cross to the middle of the box. Lee Elam stretched to get his head to it but sent the ball across the face of goal and wide.

The one moment of worry for Alty saw Coburn rush fully 25 yards from his goal to make a sliding challenge on Jean-Paul Marna when the striker was clean through.

But it was Coburn's opposite number who did the most to ensure the score stayed the same.

Harper made a simply stunning double save to preserve his side's lead, diving low to his right to pull off a superb one-handed reaction save from Little before recovering to block Denham's follow-up.

Kettering's resistance couldn't last though and within 12 minutes, Harper had gone from hero to zero.

From Warren Peyton's inswinging right wing corner, he fumbled the ball onto the crossbar and McGregor was on hand to head the loose ball into the net, sealing a deserved point.

Alty (4-4-2): Coburn 6; Lane 5, McGregor 6, Young 7, Doughty 6; Denham 7, Street 7 (Danylyk 59, 6), Lawton 5, Elam 6 (Peyton 66, 7); Little 6, Johnson 6 (Senior 74). Subs not used: Meechan, O'Neill.