Michael Rankine's first-half goal gave the Minstermen all three points at Rockingham Road and left them breathing down the necks of Oxford United and Stevenage Borough.

And Foyle said: "It was a fantastic team performance after they caused us a lot of problems in the first 10 minutes.

"We are grinding out results with two banks of four and proving hard to break down."

Kettering started brightly, with James Dance firing over the bar after just four minutes, before home skipper Ian Roper was denied by an impressive save from Michael Ingham from his close-range header.

John Dempster then headed over from a Darren Wrack cross before the Minstermen took the lead against the run of play.

James Meredith launched a cross into the Kettering penalty box in the 15th minute and, following Roper's misjudgement, Rankine beat Nathan Abbey from six yards.

A scrappy second half boiled over on 54 minutes when Jordan Hadfield's challenge on Alex Lawless led to a needless, 21-man melee.

Referee Richard Wigglesworth, however, only opted to caution Hadfield and Lawless.