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Harriers 0gifBarrow AFC 0

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Date: 16-04-16 gif Venue: Aggborough gif att: 1517 gif away fans: 137
It's confirmed. The Harriers are down

gif Report: Phil Lench
We all knew it was coming and we all hoped that it wouldn't be too painful to go through but today was just that.  Painful! And comical too.

In the past few weeks we've seen some better performances from a team with one eye on the drop and finally a glimpse into what Colin Gordon hopes to achieve with his team playing the 'Kidderminster Way'.  Sadly today Barrow had no intention of complementing Colins dream and in fact showed us what to expect next season in the North.  Eleven six footers punting the ball into the heavens and stifling any creativity that our team of ballet dancers could hope to muster.

Yes, today was the day that we finally went down and what a disappointing day it was.  With the other teams around us facing tough games we knew that we wouldn't have a better chance of three points even though it would all be in vain by the time the last game of the season came around.  As it was Halifax, Altrincham, Guiseley and Welling all lost but Boreham Wood scored a late winner at Aldershot to send us down anyway but it still hurts.

It had all started quite well with a little nervousness on show from us but as the game went on Barrows game plan became obvious with countless off the ball incidents and blatant cheating by some players going down injured and then getting up and walking away.  The shockingly poor referee didn't help matters either with his eccentric decision making when he failed to book those cheats.

And they say they never prosper?  They came close to it when a header was cleared off the line by Keith Lowe after Dean Snedker was beaten.

We had two similar chances soon after when their keeper Joel Dixon fumbled and dropped a shot from outside the area from Ben Whitfield and watched as it bobbled past the post.  If he had been further towards the centre of the goal it would have gone in.  Soon after Ben charged a poor Dixon clearance down and took the ball back towards him as he struggled to stay on his feet but Ben then went and shot straight at him when a sidestep could have reaped a better outcome.
  HT: 0 - 0
Now here's the galling bit.  We know, and have been told, that we always play better in the second half and we expect to see us taking the game to the other side with some neat inter passing and fast runs into the box.  Today poor Ben hardly touched the ball in the second half and as the game went on the resignation of relegation crept across the stadium.

The only shot on goal of note came from the visitors when Nick Wilmer-Anderton's strike forced Snedker into an excellent save as he tipped it over the bar.  Sadly the rest of the goalkeeping experience was poor from both keepers with countless goal kicks heading for the sides of the pitch and when Snedker did roll it it out it was invariably to Keith Lowe who then hoofed the ball either out of play or straight to a Barrow player.  It would have been more creative for us if he had used the Ousmane Fané or Elton N'Gwatala option instead.

The game was once again descending into farce with the poor kicking and the referees antics and to top it all Barrow were starting to gain the upper-hand.  Ben Tomlinson had a chance to score and scuffed it before mouthing off at everyone in the vicinity while Jordan Williams sent one over the bar.  For us we just seemed to accept it and it wasn't until late in the game that we made our first change with Omari Patrick coming on for Dan Sweeney who was making his full debut.

I feel a better move would have been to bring on Jared Hodgkiss in place of the struggling Tyrone Williams rather than take Sweeney off.  That would have left Kelvin Langmead back where he belongs, defending, while Hodgkiss could make better use of the right side of the pitch than Williams had been able to do.

We ended the game without a single shot on goal in the second half and looking forward? to life in the sixth tier of football for the first time in thirty four years.

Sad times indeed.
  FT: 0 - 0



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Latest table and stats here  

Harriers  goals   subs   cards      Barrow AFC  goals   subs   cards 
Snedker     Dixon  
T Williams     Parry  
Kinsella     Wilmer-Anderton  
Francis-Angol     Lacey  
Langmead     Livesey gif  
Lowe     Grand  
Fané   Haworth gif  
N'Gwatala     Harvey
Sweeney gif     Tomlinson  
Whitfield     Cook  
McQuilkin   J Williams  
SUBS:         SUBS:      
Brown     Abbott gif - 32  
Hodgkiss     Walker  
Garnett     Pilkington gif - 92  
Patrick gif - 80     Fofana  
Tunnicliffe     Grimes  

REFEREE:
Mr R Wigglesworth
Sth Yorkshire





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