The very first meeting between the Brakes and the Poppies came in the old Midland Floodlit Cup in November 1965, which was the first season Leamington entered the competition, with their floodlights, having been purchased from Manchester City’s Maine Road stadium, having been installed and switched on only a month or so earlier.
This was a competition that we would meet in many times over the next 19 years. Indeed, the first half a dozen meetings came in that competition, before Lockheed Leamington joined the Southern League in 1971, when we made our first visit to Rockingham Road for a league fixture, coming away with a memorable 3-2 victory over Ron Atkinson’s promotion chasing team.
We were well beaten in the return, and would not meet Kettering again in league action until our first season in the Premier Division - 1976/77. From then, the two met regularly for six seasons as they both became founder members of the Alliance Premier League - now the National League. The Poppies were arguably one of the top non league sides in the country during and after this time, coming close to reaching the Football League on several occasions, so it was some achievement for a club of our size to be competing on a level playing field with them.
Brakes registered some good wins over the Poppies during this time, but were also on the end of a few hammerings too. It was not until we began to meet regularly again in 2012 that our tally improved. To be fair to Kettering they were on a bit of a downward spiral at the time which I’m sure their fans will not want reminding of, but they had bounced back by the time Leamington returned to the Southern League in 2015 after two seasons in the Conference North, and our meetings have been somewhat incident packed ever since.
The Poppies have started to get the better of us more often in the last three seasons, but with them being relegated along with us last season the rivalry has been renewed in the Southern League with Leamington winning 2-1 in the first game between the two sides this campaign!
1965/66 - Midland Floodlit Cup
18/11/65 Lockheed Leamington 0 Kettering Town 2 - Att: 600
20/12/65 Kettering Town 2 Lockheed Leamington 2 - Att: 550
1966/67 - Midland Floodlit Cup
17/10/66 Kettering Town 0 Lockheed Leamington 0 - Att: 1,324
06/03/67 Lockheed Leamington 2 Kettering Town 1 - Att: 600
1967/68 - Midland Floodlit Cup
11/09/67 Kettering Town 4 Lockheed Leamington 0 - Att: 1,800
25/03/68 Lockheed Leamington 2 Kettering Town 1 - Att: 350
1971/72 - Southern League Division One North
29/01/72 Kettering Town 2 Lockheed Leamington 3 - Att: 881
21/03/72 Lockheed Leamington 0 Kettering Town 3 - Att: 500
1976/77 - Southern League Premier Division
24/09/76 AP Leamington 1 Kettering Town 1 - Att: 1,069
05/03/77 Kettering Town 2 AP Leamington 1 - Att: 1,713
1977/78 - Southern League Premier Division
27/08/77 AP Leamington 2 Kettering Town 1 - Att: 617
21/09/77 Kettering Town 5 AP Leamington 0 - Att: 1,216
1978/79 - Southern League Premier Division
26/12/78 Kettering Town 4 AP Leamington 2 - Att: 1,874
12/05/79 AP Leamington 2 Kettering Town 1 - Att: 949
1979/80 - Alliance Premier League
11/09/79 Kettering Town 1 AP Leamington 1 - Att: 2,281
05/04/80 AP Leamington 1 Kettering Town 3 - Att: 566
1979/80 - Alliance Premier League Cup
27/09/79 AP Leamington 0 Kettering Town 4 - Att: 773
1980/81 - Alliance Premier League
13/09/80 Kettering Town 3 AP Leamington 0 - Att: 1,383
21/02/81 AP Leamington 3 Kettering Town 3 - Att: 569
1980/81 - Midland Floodlit Cup
07/10/80 Kettering Town 3 AP Leamington 2
1981/82 - Alliance Premier League
07/11/81 AP Leamington 3 Kettering Town 3 - Att: 498
20/03/82 Kettering Town 1 AP Leamington 2 - Att: 1,237
1981/82 - Midland Floodlit Cup
21/10/81 Kettering Town 3 AP Leamington 0
1982/83 - FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
30/10/82 Kettering Town 3 AP Leamington 1 - Att: 1,440
1982/83 - Midland Floodlit Cup
25/01/83 AP Leamington 2 Kettering Town 2
1983/84 - Midland Floodlit Cup
14/12/83 Kettering Town 1 AP Leamington 1
2012/13 - Southern League Premier Division
13/11/12 Leamington 2 (Johnson, Chilton) Kettering Town 1 - Att: 418
03/02/13 Kettering Town 1-3 Leamington (Chilton 2, S Moore) - Att: 412
2015/16 - Southern League Premier
18/08/15 Leamington 3 (Edwards, Taundry, Mackey) Kettering Town 2 - Att: 545
12/04/16 Kettering Town 1-1 Leamington (Austin) - Att: 696
2016/17 - Southern League Premier
09/08/16 Kettering Town 0-2 Leamington (Obeng, Rowe) - Att: 605
17/01/17 Leamington A-A Kettering Town
07/03/17 Leamington 3 (Thompson-Brown 2, Baker-Richardson) Kettering Town 0 - Att: 478
2019/20 - National League North
24/08/19 Leamington 3 (Edwards, March 2) Kettering Town 1 - Att: 575
2020/21 - FA Trophy 4th Round
19/01/21 Kettering Town 0 Leamington 3 (Waldron, Edwards, Lane) - Att: BCD (Played at Leamington)
2021/22 - FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round
02/09/21 Leamington 3 (Morley, Turner 2) Kettering Town 3 - Att: 566
05/09/21 Kettering Town 2 Leamington 0 - Att: 612
2021/22 - National League North
18/12/21 Leamington 0 Kettering Town 4 - Att: 553
05/02/22 Kettering Town 1 Leamington 1 (Turner) - Att: 860
2022/23 - National League North
13/09/22 Leamington 1 (Turner) Kettering Town 0 - Att: 422
10/04/23 Kettering Town 3 Leamington 0 - Att: 1,071
2023/24 - Southern Premier League Central
07/11/23 Leamington 2 (Stewart, Barnett) Kettering Town 1 - Att: 322
They’ve played for both clubs!
Les Latham (former player & manager of Brakes), George Burrows, Eric Dobbs, Bill Draper, Hughie Morrow, Bill Salmon, Ralph Ramshaw, Doug Hickton, Gordon Livsey, Stephan Morley, Delroy Gordon, Nathan Hicks, Courtney Baker-Richardson, Callum Powell, Liam Canavan, Eliot Hodge.
