The Terras are now tenth in the table, just six points behind the Poppies, who had Guy Branston sent off in the 43rd minute.

John Hollins made two changes from the side beaten last weekend by AFC Hornchurch, with Stephen Reed returning in place of Sam Cutler and Cameron Mawer – suffering from a slight injury – being replaced by Adam Bygrave.

The Terras took the game to their table-topping hosts and had an early opportunity to score when Kevin Sandwith linked with Ryan Williams on the left before the later put Michael Malcolm in on goal, unfortunately the Weymouth striker’s effort was poor and failed to trouble Lee Harper.

As expected Kettering quickly settled into their rhythm and began to surge forward, but the visiting defence were able to hold firm and limit the number of clear-cut chances the home side could create.

Gareth Seddon found himself free on the right flank, and with Danny Knowles off his line, he struck the ball early but his shot finished wide of the keeper’s left post.

Kettering’s main threat was from set-pieces as Exodus Geohaghon’s throw-ins and a series of pinpoint corners from Jean-Paul Marna were all aimed at the heads of the towering Guy Branston or Geohaghon himself, but the Terras defence remained firm.

Sandwith had to clear John Dempster’s header from a Marna corner off the line and Knowles had to be aware when gathering efforts from Geohaghon, Alfie Potter and Andre Bouchard before Weymouth managed to break the stranglehold when a long clearance was collected by Malcolm, however, his shot flew across the goal and harmlessly past the upright.

The game came to life in the 43rd minute after an off the ball incident involving Weymouth’s Chris McPhee and Kettering’s Branston.

The Poppies’ skipper was shown a straight red card for violent conduct as he reacted to an alleged elbow from McPhee, who received a yellow card.

With the half drawing to a close Malcolm saw his free-kick from the edge of the penalty area well saved by Harper.

After the interval the game became more of a midfield battle with neither side creating that many scoring opportunities.

The home side’s only real chance in the opening minutes fell to Seddon, but his shot was weak and easily gathered by Knowles.

There was controversy at both ends in the 71st minute when the Poppies felt sure they should have been awarded a penalty as Santos Gaia appeared to bundle Seddon over, but as the game continued the ball was played out to Malcolm who in turn was floored by Tommy Jazsczun, only for the referee to ignore the claims of both teams.

As the hosts became desperate to find a goal, while looking visiblly tired, Weymouth began to create the better chances. McPhee and Stuart Beavon both saw efforts blocked by the home defence with Reed and Sandwith firing high.

Weymouth had a superb chance to break the deadlock, in the 80th minute when a cross from McPhee found James Coutts, who had made a run across the Kettering back line and found himself in space.

However, his first touch let him down and took him away from the goal. Recovering, the Terras’ substitute pulled the ball back for striker Beavon, whose shot was blocked by Dempster, the ball rebounded to Anton Robinson whose effort was blocked by Jean-Paul Marna and eventually cleared.

With 87 minutes played Weymouth took the lead when Sandwith’s cross was intercepted by Jazsczun, but as the Poppies defender tried to chest the ball back to his goalkeeper Coutts nipped in to direct the ball past Harper.

Kettering will feel disappointed not to have levelled in time added on following an injury to Santos Gaia after Seddon found himself unmarked, but he headed wide and Harper, moving up field for a corner, produced a spectacular overhead kick, only to see his effort fly high.

Nevertheless it was Weymouth who stayed calm to end the league leader’s six-match winning streak, collect the three points and regain a lot of the pride lost in the FA Cup defeat to AFC Hornchurch last week with a performance that deserved the victory.