03-08-19 – Report – Kidderminster Harriers 2 Leamington FC 2

Harriers gift ten men Leamington a point at the end

Report: Phil Lench

The Harriers kicked of the 2019-20 season with a home draw against a rugged Leamington FC side that came to defend but ended up scoring twice. So in effect they got their wish.

A red card mid way through the second half didn’t seem to phase them and they went on to score in the dying minutes of the game. Sadly the six minutes of extra time were not taken advantage of by a Harriers side that didn’t quite click on the day and a share of the spoils was a fair result in the end.

We kicked off the game in close, humid conditions with all but Richard Peniket of the new signings starting the game. Correy Davidson, Cliff Moyo, Cameron Gregory, Alex Prosser and Rhys Williams all started. The game was slow to get going with neither side overly interested in scoring. Early chances came the way of Declan Weeks when he fired weakly towards goal and for Milan Butterfield who skied a couple over. 

Ashley Chambers tried his luck but the former Harriers loanee keeper, Jake Weaver, collected easily while Davidson struck the foot of the post with a speculative shot from the corner of the area. Soon after the same player broke through and set himself up to shoot when Weaver pulled off the save of the game when he came out and bravely smothered the ball at the feet of the Irish born defender.

Leamington tried to venture towards goal on a few occasions without really troubling our defenders but there was a warning mid half when Cliff Moyo and two others tried to shepherd a ball back towards Gregory but with the on loan Shrewsbury Town keeper rooted to his line a Brakes attacker tried to nip in and rob us of the ball but thankfully failed.

Their next foray forward resulted in the penalty – a disputed one – when the referee decided that the reason for Josh March collapsing to the ground was due to a hand on his shoulder by a Harriers defender. March himself recovered sufficiently to dispatch the spot kick past Gregory.

At the restart some idiot came on the pitch from the North Stand and offered, what seemed to be his glasses, to the ref. The half came to an end without any further action.  

HT: 0 – 1

The second period was an improvement on the first for the reds and their fans. We came out with more purpose and a greater urgency in getting forward. Correy Davidson tried his luck from distance when the ball dropped to his feet but his effort was bound for the stars.

Milan Butterfield was the next to try but his on target shot was deflected just wide of the post by a touch from a Leamington foot and then minutes later Milan missed a sitter when his header from an unmarked position by the post went the wrong side of the post yet again.

Just after that we thankfully pulled the goal back when Alex Prosser, having a quiet game, whipped the ball over into the area where it crashed against the crossbar and onto the head of Ashley Chambers who easily diverted the ball goalwards and into the net.

At last we had got the goal we needed and the team began to click a little more easily and ten minutes later we had taken the lead. Again the ball was played into the area and bobbled about for a while before it was played back in to find Ed Williams waiting on the line to nod the ball home.

Following the goal the Leamington players seemed to lose it a little and tempers began to fray. Jack Edwards had already given the referee a mouthful and when he went in two footed on Moyo on the touchline his time on the pitch was over with the wave of a red card. He walked off still giving the official a bad mouthing and threw his captains armband onto the ground.  

As is typically Harriers we failed to capitalise on the advantage given to us and although we had other chance to score none of them were too convincing. Leamington were obviously going to defend for their lives and we just could not break them down.

It all came back to bite us on the nether regions four minutes from time when a long ball forward from the Brakes was apparently going out of play but somehow Junior English – a defender – raced to keep the ball in play and lifted the ball across goal where substitute Kaiman Anderson had the easy job of slotting the ball home and draw his side level.

With six minutes of time added on it would have been logical for the Harriers to go for broke and grab a winner but instead we seemed content to bide our time by passing the ball around the middle of the field.

It’s going to take time for this new team to click but the makings are there. We do need a big man alongside Chambers and I’m not sure if Ed Williams or Richard Peniket are those guys. We have time to correct that though and hopefully we’ll see a more potent Harriers at Telford on Tuesday. 

FT: 2 – 2

Goals for Harriers: Chambers 57, E Williams 71

Goals for Leamington FC: March (p) 41, Anderson 86

The Harriers Online MotM is: Cliff Moyo

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Gregory
Austin
Davidson
R Williams
Moyo
Johnson
Weeks
Butterfield
Chambers
E Williams
Prosser			65
Subs:
Palmer
O’Connor
Peniket			65
Higginson
Scott
Leamington FC	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Weaver
English
Gudger
Clarke
Mace
Lane
Murphy
Gittings			77
March			80
Edwards
Keane			62
Subs:
Anderson			62
King
Shamsi			80
Mussa			77
Hood
Referee:
Mr Kristian Silcock
Liverpool