A tremendously resilient performance from York City moved them to within one-point of the leaders after Michael Rankine scored the only goal of the contest at Rockingham Road.

Bustling striker Rankine struck with his seventh goal of the campaign after a mistake by Kettering's Ian Roper on sixteen minutes. But the visitors were forced into a sterling rearguard action for long stages and indebted to a couple of great saves by Michael Ingham.

Top scorer Richard Brodie was the only change to their starting eleven as he replaced Michael Gash, who was joined on the substitutes bench by recent signings Courtney Pitt and Jamie Clarke.

But the early action was at the visitors end when a third-minute cross from James Dance saw Kwesi Appiah's shot blocked before his attempted follow-up was also deflected over. Marcus Kelly delivered the subsequent corner and Roper had a six-yard effort magnificently turned over the bar by Ingham, falling backwards. Jordan Hadfield was then off-target as the hosts continued their lively start on a difficult and heavy playing surface.

The Minstermen's first serious venture ended with Alex Lawless being brought down by Roper, who was cautioned, and ultimately resulted in their winner. Brodie's free-kick was diverted behind by the defensive wall, with a bad mistake by Roper following the corner leaving Rankine to fire into the bottom corner.

York centre-back David McGurk was soon making a vital clearance to keep out a dangerous cross from Dance, while there was another scare for the visitors when a James Jennings free-kick on the half-hour took a heavy deflection after Luke Graham had been penalised. Dance was proving a tricky character for the home side, and he skipped past Danny Parslow and forced Ingham into a sharp save before Rankine became the first player cautioned for their opponents following a clash with John Dempster.

Kettering were still appearing the more dangerous side as Kelly was allowed too much space and drove into the side-netting. A late challenge by Jennings on Brodie earned him a booking just before the break.

Chris Carruthers whipped in an early second-half free-kick for the visitors that came to nothing after Rankine had been pushed. And moments later Brodie released Carruthers to cross and keeper Nathan Abbey gratefully claimed before tempers flared after a foul on Lawless, who was cautioned alongside home midfielder Hadfield.

Conditions were always proving difficult in an intimidating atmosphere, but resolute York were still appearing defensively sound - to such an extent that their hosts made a double-change just past the hour in a bid to improve their fortunes, with Anthony Robinson and Andre Boucaud taking over from Darren Wrack and Patrick Noubissie.

Goalscorer Rankine had already been cautioned earlier in the contest, and was again twice in trouble for shoving opponents. Manager Martin Foyle immediately reacted by replacing him with Djoumin Sangare. York were then reliant on another fine save by Ingham when falling to his left midway through the half after Appiah had threatened to take advantage of a cross from Kelly.

Kettering striker Appiah also dragged another attempt behind as the visitors continued to frustrate their hosts, who made their final change with Kelly being withdrawn in favour of Greg Taylor. Dance was soon well off the mark from long distance.

The Minstermen responded when Ben Purkiss' cross was taken off Brodie's head by keeper Abbey with ten minutes remaining. Lawless then supplied Brodie, who was caught on the edge of the area by Hadfield, with Carruthers' free-kick being flicked on and wide. Brodie then robbed Dempster in a dangerous area, but chose to ignore a couple of supporting colleagues and miskicked instead.

Substitute Gash took over from Carruthers as the contest entered its closing five minutes, while Brodie was again marauding forward before being taken out by the cautioned Dance.      

Five minutes of added time were signalled, which allowed Neil Barrett to come on for Lawless. But it was fellow replacment Sangare soon romping away for the visitors until Dempster felled him and became the fifth Kettering player to earn a yellow card. James Meredith then took care of their final attack as valiant York once again showed their battling qualities to come through with flying colours.