Confident Kettering Town to play their own game as they target huge FA Cup upset

Richard Lavery will have his Kettering Town team well prepared for the trip to Northampton Town on Saturday (Picture: Peter Short)

Boss Richard Lavery has insisted Kettering Town will not be changing their style when they travel to Sky Bet League One neighbours Northampton Town in Saturday's blockbuster FA Cup first round showdown.

Part-timers Poppies will walk out at packed Sixfields Stadium (ko 5.30pm) to take on a full-time professional outfit in front of the BBC2 TV cameras, hoping they can cause a famous giant-killing.

Kettering are very much the underdogs as they go up against a team four divisions higher than them in the football pyramid, but Lavery insists he and his players will be only concentrating on what they are going to do.

And they will not be worrying about what Jon Brady's players can do to them.

"People have asked me if we are going to go there and put 10 men behind the ball, and I have said 'absolutely no chance'," declared Lavery, who has guided his team to the top of the Southern League Premier Central this season.

"I am going to go there, with a game plan as we do every match, and I am not going to change the way we play.

"If we are on our game and we are playing really well, then we can get something there and I am more than confident the lads will be up for it.

"I will make sure they will be up for it and will try and get an extra 20 or 30 per cent out of them, because that is what happens in the FA Cup, and they will be champing at the bit.

"But I won't be doing anything differently.

"Yes, we have to respect Northampton because they are full-time footballers and they are four leagues higher, but from our point of view we will go there and play our own game.

"As long as we give a good account of ourselves then you never know what might happen. We have nothing to lose do we?"

Poppies first team coach Frankie Fry was at Sixfields last Saturday to run the rule over the Cobblers as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Crawley Town, and Lavery knows his team is facing a testing afternoon.

"Frankie watched them on Saturday, I have watched clips on them, and I am not deluded," said the Poppies boss. "I am not going to go there thinking we are going to win.

"But it is the FA Cup and anything can happen on the day. If we turn up and have a good day and they have a bad day, then we do have a chance."

The Poppies, who will go into the game having had a 10-day break from competitive action, will have a near fully-fit squad to choose from.

Their only absentees are injured attacker Kai Fifield, who is from Northampton, and striker Jonny Edwards, who is cup tied having played for St Ives against Kettering in one of the qualifying rounds.

Fans are reminded that Saturday’s match will be played to a conclusion, with replays having been scrapped from the first round proper and onwards this season.

It means that if Saturday’s match ends level after 90 minutes, there will be a 30-minute extra-time, and it the teams still can’t be separated there will be a penalty shootout.