An opening day visit to a side fancied for promotion this season was set to get a fair test for a Church side that had negotiated eight preseason games unbeaten.

It's still definitely summer as the season begins, although the pitch has and end if season look about it; hard, uneven with grassless patches that do not bode well for the vagaries of the English autumn and winter.

The pitch affected the game as the ball bobbled throughout, and the importance of the first touch was very much to the fore. The home side coped better in the opening exchanges.

The first half belonged to the hosts, and they were probably worth more than their single goal lead.

Kettering started the game with intensity in front of an enthusiastic home crowd of nearly 1,000 fans. The early pressure paid dividends in just the 8th minute when Edward Panter found the back of the net to put the Poppies 1-0 up. A quickly taken throw in on the Church left bounced over Bavanganga, and as the Church defender sought to recover his composure, Panter nipped in and beat Evans at his near post with a quickly taken rifled effort from deep in the area.

Church struggled to handle Kettering's directness early on, and the home side controlled much of the first half, though they failed to extend their advantage before the interval.
Evans had already saved well to beat away a close range downward header from Flemming, but he will probably be disappointed with failing to deal with Panter’s later effort.
First real chance for Church came on 12 minutes when Okafor received the ball in the home box with his back to goal, but his shot on the turn sent the ball well over.

Kettering were close to extending their lead on 32 minutes when an errant ball from Ngandu 30 yards out resulted in another sight of goal for Panter, but his low drive was dealt with by Evans as he turned the shot around the foot of the post.

Panter again, on the stroke of half time, twisting and turning in the box, and his low drive cannons off the foot of the post and to safety.

Half Time: Kettering Town 1 Alvechurch 0

The second half turned into a physical, bruising encounter as Church grew into the match and pushed for an equaliser. The opening minutes demonstrated a much better sense of Church controlling the narrative, with much better possession than they had had in lengthy spells in the first period.

The game did become a bit more niggly, and the referee was struggling to keep a decent game going at times. A flurry of bookings ensued, with Panter picking up his first yellow card in the 56th minute in a tussle with Reilly on Church’s right.

The complexion of the match shifted completely in the 69th minute when Panter received a second yellow card after leaving a late foot on Kelly as the full back cleared the ball from the Church box.

The red card lefty Church with a numerical advantage, and also possibly signalled the end of Kettering’s attacking threat as they re-grouped to defend whet they held.
Alvechurch threw bodies forward and made multiple attacking substitutions, introducing fresh legs to test the retreating Kettering backline, but the breakthrough was inches away on two significant occasions.

Firstly, on 70 minutes a Kelly cross from wide left finds Okafor, centrally placed eight yards out, but the frontman’s header cannons off the face of the far post as he seeks to send it back across White. A couple of inches to the right and Church would have found themselves level.

And then in stoppage time the same Church player connects with a Sweet Sanches cross from the opposite flank, but his overhead effort bounces inches wide of the near post with the defence spectating and the whole ground holding its collective breath.