Altrincham

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Kettering boss Mark Cooper

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Kettering 3-1 Altrincham

Kettering Town maintained their play-off aspirations with a hard-fought win against a resilient Altrincham at Rockingham Road on Tuesday evening.

The match took place in dreadful conditions with the pitch becoming increasingly saturated with water as the encounter progressed.

The Poppies made the early breakthrough with Jean-Paul Marna latching onto a through ball in the 9th minute and firing a left-footed shot past Alty goalkeeper Stuart Coburn.

The visitors almost drew level just five minutes later but Chris Senior's low shot hit the upright and subsequently rolled out for a goalkick.

Senior again came close on the half-hour mark but sent his shot wide after running onto a lovely through ball from Matt Doughty.

Altrincham finally got the equaliser in the 62nd minute when Shaun Densmore found himself with time and space to fire a powerful shot from outside the box which flew past the goalkeeper and into the bottom-right corner.

The Robins continued to push forward in the hopes of claiming the lead but were caught out at the other end by Marna once again.

The forward skipped past defender Mark McGregor in the box and went on to fire his shot past the exposed Coburn from 12 yards.

As the conditions deteriorated, so did Altrincham's chances of fashioning another equaliser.

The Poppies were awarded a free kick near the corner flag in second-half injury time and they were duly punished by the hosts.

Craig Westcarr sent in a dangerous looking cross which was met by the head of Brett Solkhon to make it 3-1.

Kettering bookings: None.

Altrincham bookings: Densmore.

Ref: R West (Beverley).

Att: 1,036.