Poppies 0 Charlton Athletic 4The Poppies slipped to a second successive friendly defeat as a strong Charlton Athletic side claimed a comfortable win at the Elgood’s Arena.
But manager Lee Harper wasn't helped by the absence of a few key players.
Iyseden Christie and Ashley Westwood missed the game through injury while Moses Ashikodi continues his comeback from knee surgery.
Jean-Paul Marna was also missing, meaning Lee Harper could only name four substitutes while trialists Alex Dyer and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu started the game.
The first half was low-key with John Dempster heading an early effort wide for Kettering but it was Charlton who opened the scoring on 32 minutes.
An uncharacteristic error by Ian Roper gifted the ball to Akpo Sodje and he drew Nathan Abbey in before squaring to Guilem Bauza who fired into the empty net.
James Dance had a deflected shot saved by Rob Elliot but Sodje almost made it 2-0 when he raced away but Abbey was equal to his shot as he expertly palmed the ball away.
And the Addicks striker headed another effort wide before the break when Abbey missed a cross from the left by Scott Wagstaff.
Charlton started the second half strongly and Bauza fired a shot just wide before they doubled their lead as Sodje headed home Wagstaff’s cross.
Abbey saved well from a Bauza header shortly afterwards as the Poppies struggled to get out of their own half.
A free-kick from Andre Boucaud, which was deflected wide, sparked Kettering’s best spell as they put the pressure on with a number of corners.
Marcus Kelly burst through with a good run and squared for Brett Solkhon but Charlton managed to clear their lines before the midfielder could shoot.
The visitors grabbed their third with 11 minutes to go when Miguel Llera’s free-kick took a wicked deflected and left Abbey wrong-footed.
Abbey made another fine stop from Alex Stavrinou before the end but Charlton did add a fourth late on when Tamer Tuna scored from closed range.
Poppies: Abbey, Graham (sub Taylor, h-t), Dempster, Roper, Davis (sub Pryor, 86 mins), Noubissie (sub Wrack, 59 mins), Dyer, Boucaud, Kelly, Dance, Ndumbu-Nsungu (sub Solkhon, h-t).
Attendance: 725 (away fans 116).
Poppies man of the match: Sol Davis.