Elton brace buries Nuneaton

The Harriers kept up the pressure on AFC Fylde this afternoon with yet another demolition of one of our local rivals.  Before today we've put ten goals past Tamworth in two games and then four past Telford in the Trophy but today it was the turn of Nuneaton to reap the benefits of our firepower.  It was also our second double of the campaign following our 2-0 win at theirs in August.

A brace from Elton N'Gwatala was the icing on the cake that also saw Andre Brown and Ryan Croasdale get on the scoresheet but it was Eltons first goal that bought the crowd to their feet when he skipped past the Nuneaton defence to blast a shot that soared into the back of Christian Dibbles net and could have easily carried on going until it landed North of the Severn Valley station.

We started the game without Zaine Francis-Angol who was out with a minor knock so back into the side came Josh Ezewele following his slight knock from last week.  On the bench was Ashley Carter returning from his slight knock.

Nuneaton came to us on the back of a good run of recent form that saw them win eight games in a row until last weekend when the drew at home to Brackley then lost 4-0 at Salford on Tuesday evening.  We made sure that this wasn't the best of weeks for them.  In their side they had two ex Harriers in Kelvin Langmead with Exodus Geohaghon on the bench.

For once a team didn't come to Aggborough and put all eleven men behind the ball but actually came to make a game of it.  They started quite well by closing us down and stopping us creating anything of worth.  We were being pressured into mistakes with our usual Mr Dependable, Keith Lowe, making too many forward passes go astray and then getting beaten to the ball in defensive situations.  Slowly we managed to iron out the mistakes and get into the game.  We had already come close to opening the scoring with a half chance that Darryl Knights put against the post and Andre Brown forced Dibble into an excellent save when he fired in on the angle as did Josh Ezewele a few minutes later.

Arthur Gnahoua then fired over the bar while Brown was in the thick of it again with a shot that went wide.  Brown got even thicker into it a few minutes later when we opened the scoring through him.  James McQuilkin took a corner that was played short to the feet of Brown who sidestepped to find himself some space and then fire the ball into the top of the Nuneaton net.

We should have doubled the lead when McQuilkin teed himself up but hit the bar with Dibble beaten.  In response Nuneaton had their only real chance of the half when the industrious Jordan Nicholson found space and fired goalwards but Alex Palmer pulled out a top drawer save to push the ball away from goal.

The second half saw the Reds really begin to apply the pressure and you knew it was only going to be a matter of time before the Nuneaton floodgates opened.  Problem was that the 'matter ot time' took a long time coming.

The warning shots were there when N'Gwatala, having one of his better games, fired in from distance and hit the post yet again.  The ball came back out to McQuilkin who then played it in for Brown to head wildly over the bar.

Nuneaton began to find their feet again and it looked like they might be finding a way back into the game if we didn't pull our fingers out.  The crowd were getting a bit tetchy and impatient, nervous might be a better description, that we were taking too long in putting this game to bed and that the visitors could sneak a point.  Jordan Tunnicliffe made a good block to divert Joe Ironsides shot away from danger but them came the goal of the game, and possibly of the season too.

N'Gwatala picked the ball up deep and began to run with it towards the goal.  You just knew that with defenders in front of him that he was going to stop, turn and turn again then lose the ball but this time he didn't.  He just kept going, evading all attention, until he came within firing range and then pulled the trigger on a shot that screamed into the back of the net.

Nuneaton tried to get back into the game but you could see that all was lost and so it proved when Ryan Croasdale robbed Tom Elliott of the ball then strode forward, waltzing past others until he had a clear sight of goal before rolling the ball between Elliott, who was trying to remedy his mistake, and Langmead and then under the unsighted Dibble.

The Nuneaton fans had seen enough and began to leave in droves so they missed the icing on the cake when Elton popped the fourth goal home.  We were obviously not going to sit back and see the game out so, in the ninetieth minute, we launched another assault on their goal that culminated in a shot hitting the upright and falling for Mani Dieseruvwe, on earlier for Brown, to head it against the bar where Elton was waiting to nod it home for our fourth and his second of the day.

We have a day off from League football next Saturday when we go up to Barrow for the Trophy but hopefully we'll get some good news if an on form Salford City can put one over Fylde in what could be another away defeat for the leaders.

 Goals for Harriers: A Brown 33, N'Gwatala 74, 90, Croasdale 85

REFEREE:

Mr S Mather Manchester