Harkness scuttles the 'Fleet

Jonny Harkness came back to the side for his first start since a defeat at Halifax at the beginning of October, a game that saw him last for just the first half and not to return until last Saturdays home defeat to Stevenage when he came on late in the game.

Now, because of the injury to Stuart Whitehead, he found himself back in favour in a shuffled defence that saw him pair up with Jeff Kenna while Michael Blackwood moved back out wide.    On loan James Constable and Rob Davies again both started.

Jonny Harkness is not the worlds greatest footballer in the eyes of some fans but today he put them in their places by rifling in two of the goals that sunk Gravesend and left them crashing into the rocks (have you spotted the nautical theme yet?).

He was helped in his goal quest by Blackwood who had probably one of his best games for us so far and regularly swept through the Gravesend defence at will.

Both of Harkness's goals came from free kicks and the first one arrived in the twentieth minute when James Constable was bought down by Danny Slatter on the edge of the area.    Known for his prowess at set pieces, Harkness sent the kick soaring into the top corner of Lance Cronins net.

Before the massed ranks of Harriers fans could draw breath we went further into the lead.    The man that had been wronged just a few minutes earlier, Constable, grabbed a second goal for us.

With the home side still shell shocked at the first goal Blackwood again waltzed through the meagre defence to slip the ball through to the on loan Walsall man to fire the ball home.

The home side were spurred into action then for a short while as first Charlie MacDonald had a shot well saved by the tall Harriers keeper, Scott Bevan, and then Ross Smith saw his strong header equally well dealt with by Bevan.

We'd picked up a couple of bookings during this half with first Russ Penn going into the local (Essex!!!) referee's book after fouling Stacey Long and then on thirty five minutes Constable was booked for not retreating at a free kick.    Gravesend also had a booking that should really have been a red card when Peter Hawkins viciously clattered into Michael Blackwood after the speedy winger once more left the home defence for dead.    Incredibly the homer ref thought that it wasn't that bad and bottled it.

In the dying minutes of the half Omome Sodje - another of the Sodje tribe to swamp the footballing world - came close to pulling a goal back for his side.    His shot went straight through the Harriers defence but, lucky for us, Gavin Hurren managed to get a foot to it and stop it entering the net.