01-01-23. Match report Vs Hereford FC

Harriers fail to raise their game again

Report: Phil Lench

Following our 1-0 win at Edgar Street on Boxing Day a bit more was expected from the Harriers than todays showing. After a good, positive start we took the lead and then stopped playing, allowing Hereford to take control of the game for long periods. In the second half the visitors were in complete control and by the end the Harriers were lucky to get away with the draw.

We failed to do the double over local rivals Hereford FC when a freak goal from the Bulls new signing, Levi Andoh, went over the head of Tom Palmer following a wicked bounce off the turf and up into the net. The Harriers had scored earlier in the game through Amari Morgan-Smith as he netted only his second goal of the campaign following a superb ball in from livewire Jack Bearne.

Shane Byrne and Joe Leesley came back into the starting eleven at the expense of Kai Lissimore and Ashley Hemmings while Hereford made wholesale changes to their line-up. The major change from Josh Gowling was to drop Tyrone Barnett to the bench and re-instate Aaron Amadi-Holloway back to leading the line instead of playing him out of position at centre half. In a negative move though he also dropped Jack Holmes – who was impressive the other day – to the bench.

As said we started the game well enough with the Harriers keeping possession well and playing the ball around nicely without really making the all important breakthrough. That all changed when Tom Owen-Evans won the ball out wide and played it forward for Jack Bearne. He left his man for dead as he skipped past to lay the ball on a plate for AMS to sidefoot it into the net leaving the Hereford keeper, Dino Visser.

After that opening goal we failed yet again to raise our game and for almost all of the remainder of the half the game became a little boring with no side really able to stamp their own authority. That almost changed just a minute from the break when a Harriers corner failed to reach it’s intended target but was instead played back to the taker, Joe Leesley. At a very fine angle he let rip and the ball arrowed towards the Hereford net, went past Visser and hit the post to rebound away from the goal. 

HT: 1 – 0

Hereford made a tactical change at the break with Miles Storey coming on for Ryan McLean and it was Storey that showed us that the balance of the game was about to change when he left Joe Foulkes for dead and whipped in a ball across the face of goal within minutes of coming on. He followed that with another cross into the box that Palmer got a hold of.

Earlier in the first half Leesley had been the victim of a two footed, and un-punished, tackle that left him punching the ground in pain. He had made it to halftime to get some treatment but less than five minutes into the second half he had to admit defeat and go off. Ash Hemmings came on for him and for the first few minutes Hemmo showed what he can be capable of when he puts his mind to it. That hasn’t been often enough this season though.

Hereford then took control of the game once more and left us making mistakes all over the park, not finding team mates and generally being hopeless in front of goal. Morgan-Smiths first half industry had gone while Zak Browns failure to trap a ball was there for all to see.

Hereford seemed to be content with the point and were happy to pass it around in midfield while our only shot on target came from Jack Bearne three minutes from the end of normal time. It was around the same time that the referee showed us how poor he was when Bearne was scythed down on the touchline by Kane Thompson-Sommers. A set too started with Bearne and KTS pushing each other while more players joined in. It was soon calmed down but instead of booking the Hereford player the referee carded Owen-Evans instead.

He also booked Zak Brown for a routine tackle on Andoh out wide in an area that wasn’t a dangerous area.

With five minutes of extra time to play you would have thought we’d up the pressure on the Hereford backline but it was all summed up for me when we were given a free kick on the halfway line and Tom Palmer strolled up to take it. Shane Byrne waved him back but then Byrnes free kick was next to useless anyway. The lack of enthusiasm in this team is alarming.

The one blessing is we have another year to go before we play these disappointing games again.

FT: 1 – 1

Goal for Harriers: Morgan-Smith 23

Goal for Hereford FC: Andoh 60

The Harriers Online MotM is: Amari Morgan-Smith

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Palmer
Foulkes			85
Richards
McNally
Pearce
Byrne
Owen-Evans
Brown
Morgan-Smith			78
Leesley			49
Bearne
Subs:
Hemmings			49
Martin
Margetson
Freemantle			78
Lissimore			85
Hereford FC	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Visser
Andoh
Evans
Haines
Pendley
Thompson-Sommers
McLean			46
Lloyd			70
Amadi-Holloway			68
Pinchard
Rus
Subs:
Storey			46
Thompson
Barnett			68
Hanson			70
Holmes
Referee:
Mr Matthew Scholes
Telford