York City suffered a second home defeat of the season in front of their lowest attendance of the campaign at Bootham Crescent.
The Minstermen failed to score during the opening forty-five minutes for the seventh successive home game and were made to pay when Kettering’s John Dempster headed the winner six minutes after the break.
Caretaker manager Andy Porter had earlier given a debut to new signing Mark Beesley alongside the recalled Leon Constantine, with Michael Rankine ruled out due to an ankle injury and Michael Gash relegated to the substitutes bench.
And York almost broke their first-half hoodoo inside the first minute when Alex Lawless drove narrowly wide of the left-hand post. But it was the Poppies who soon had an excellent chance of their own after veteran 42-year-old striker Paul Furlong escaped the offside trap ten minutes later and chipped over Michael Ingham and narrowly wide.
At the opposite end latest signing Beesley turned well and had a shot diverted behind for a corner before Constantine’s 28-yard free-kick was clutched by on loan Darlington keeper Kelvin Jack.
York continued to attack with a dangerous James Meredith cross being helped behind by Brett Solkhon and Jamal Fyfield also delivering another inviting ball across the face of goal. Peter Till then drove marginally past the right-hand post before his whipped cross witnessed Constantine failing to react.
Kettering’s James Dance twice tried his luck without success in reply before Serge Makofo had an effort blocked by Ingham’s legs, while Furlong’s shot also struck Greg Young after Makofo had beaten Danny Parslow.
Attacking their favoured home end at the start of the second-half, York soon found themselves in arrears when Dempster routinely headed in at the far post from Jean-Paul Marna’s free-kick after Parslow had fouled Makofo.
Solkhon drilled wide ten minutes later as the visitors threatened to add another before their opponents made a double substitution on 62 minutes with Gash and David Dowson replacing Beesley and Constantine.
That appeared to lift them briefly and Parslow exchanged passes with Lawless before having a shot turned over by Jack. Lawless also had a low goalbound attempt blocked by Solkhon before Dowson suffered a similar fate as York continued to force a number of corners.
Their final substitute Jonathan Smith then screwed wide from the edge of the box with nine minutes remaining before Till’s cross prompted handball claims inside the area from the understandably increasingly frustrated home faithful.
York City: Ingham, Parslow, McGurk, Young, Meredith, Till, Lawless, Barrett (Smith 67), Fyfield, Constantine (Dowson 62), Beesley (Gash 62)
subs (unused): Knight, Courtney
Kettering Town: Jack, Noubissie, Graham, Dempster, Taylor, Dance, Solkhon, Boucaud, Furlong (McKoy 76), Marna, Serge Makofo (Kelly 90)
subs (unused): Cooper, Westwood, Roper
Goals: Dempster (51)
Ref: D. Mohareb (Cheshire)
Att: 1,978 (40 Kettering)
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