Danny Crow

Kettering 0-1 Cambridge Utd

Cambridge United boosted their survival prospects with a hard fought victory over play-off hopefuls Kettering Town at Rockingham Road on Tuesday night.

The Poppies start brightly with Elliott Charles twice coming close to giving his side an early lead.

Charles' first effort was cleared off the line by Josh Coulson, while his second attempt, a fierce drive from 20 yards out, was parried by Cambridge goalkeeper Simon Brown.

Cambridge had the perfect opportunity to break the deadlock midway through the first half but striker Danny Crow fired wide of the target after being played through on goal by some good build up play from Callum Willock and on-loan midfielder Scott Neilson.

Brown kept his side in the contest as he denied efforts by Kwesi Appiah and Jordan Hadfield in the closing stages of the first half.

Kettering came close to drawing first blood on the half-hour mark but John Dempster saw his goalbound header cleared off the line by defender Aiden Palmer.

However, it was Cambridge who finally broke the deadlock in the 76th minute when Crow collected a Simon Russell cross before firing into the top right corner.

Kettering piled forward in the closing stages of the encounter but Cambridge held firm to claim a valuable victory on the road.

Kettering bookings: Abbey, Roper.

Cambridge bookings: Carden, Willock.

Ref: Michael Naylor.

Att: 1248.