Eight losses in a row for Spartans

To add to their woes, Aaron Cunningham was sent off in the closing stages.

The defeat sent Spartans to the foot of the table – they are currently one of four sides on nine points, four adrift of the pack.

Cunningham’s red card compounded a miserable afternoon at Latimer Park for Michael Nelson’s men after a brace from Connor Kennedy and goals from Callum Powell and Gerry McDonagh.

Nelson handed a debut to young defender Ben Milburn, while Cunningham started in midfield on his fourth debut for the club.

Kettering scored after only six minutes. It remained 1-0 to the break, but the home side added a further three goals in the second half.

After the game manager Nelson said: “We just didn’t get the ball into the right areas.

"The results hurt me and my staff and it is hurting the players as well. The players need to take on board the information we are giving them, but today it was like men against boys.

"We have to keep going, but the simple fact is Kettering played to the percentages, they played the basics of the game better than us.”

Player JJ O’Donnell said: “We haven’t been good enough the last five or six games. It is borderline embarrassing to be honest and the lads in the changing room need to stand up and take responsibility.

"It’s tough to take because at the start of the season there was a lot of optimism about the place. But we are going down without a fight and we need to address it.

"We can talk about it as much as we like in the dressing room, but once we go out on the pitch it is up to the players.

"Up front we haven’t scored enough goals and at the back we have been conceding too many.

"You can have a go at the manager about tactics and the like, but at the end of the day it is about heart and desire.”

On Tuesday Blyth are back in action when they will be hoping to arrest their recent slide with an away match at Hereford before taking on Guiseley at home on Saturday.