Final day heartbreak for Harriers

Harriers threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Poppies in the last half an hour, but in doing so left themselves open to substitue Ben Wright's late sucker punch.

It was a real choker for Mark Yates' men, they had to win and hope either Torquay or Stevenage slipped up to make the top five.

To add insult to injury, Stevenage were beaten at Mansfield.

The home side started like a house on fire and they could have scored twice in the first two minutes.

With less than 90 seconds on the clock, Justin Richards saw Kettering goalkeeper Lee Harper parry his snap-shot.

The Poppies custodian barely had time to draw breath before he was called into action again.

Skipper Mark Creighton's ball into the box was met by his central defensive partner Martin Riley, with Harper again to the rescue to parry.

And the visitors were lucky not to be down to 10 men in the 19th minute when Kettering captain Guy Branston's wild lunge on Chris McPhee resulted in just a booking.

Poppies left-winger Ryan Charles followed him into the referee's notepad four minutes later, for a foul on Lee Baker.

There was a scare for Harriers in the 34th minute when Gareth Seddon had time and space to pick his spot just outside the area.

But the 21-goal striker's effort was relatively tame and Harriers keeper Adam Bartlett saved.

The first moment of note in the second half was another entry into the referee's notebook, this time Charles the victim of a Riley challenge.

Kettering almost broke the deadlock early in the second half when Chris Westcarr's low shot was tipped onto the post by Bartlett.

More defensive frailties were exposed in the 62nd minute, when substitute Alfie Potter went on a mazy run from his own half.

Space seemed to open up for him as he got to the edge of the penalty area, but Creighton took control with a powerful tackle.

As the magnitude of the task in hand dawned on Harriers, they really went for it in the last half hour.

Justin Richards blazed the ball over the bar – after he had two goes at it – while substitute Russell Penn pulled a shot wide of the post.

They were then denied by an outstanding save from Harper.

He had already beaten away Matthew Barnes-Homer's rasping drive and, with the ball running back out for Richards, was quickest to react to scoop it out of his path.

The home side went all out for the win at the death with Martin Brittain and Brian Smikle sent on in search of that elusive goal.

But it was Kettering who struck the decisive blow in the last minute.

Another surging run from Potter ended with a ball into the box which was met by Wright, who headed it over Bartlett and into the far corner.

Harriers boss Yates admitted it just wasn't his side's day.

He said: "We had enough chances to have won the game. The way they went summed it up really, we tried and tried but just couldn't get the ball in the back of the net"