03-09-24. Kidderminster Harriers 1 Chester FC 1. Match report

Ash Hemmings sent off in Chester draw

Report: Phil Lench

The Harriers dropped their first home points of the season against Chester FC tonight in yet another great game. A game too good for this level and that’s down to the experience and nous that Phil Brown brings to the team. With two central defenders – Paul Downing and Alex Penny – out injured he had to quickly restructure the team to compensate. He went with just the one recogniseable option in Reiss McNally and dropped the use of wingers to involve defenders Caleb Richards and Joe Foulkes in that role instead.

It worked because Chester struggled to cope with us and it wasn’t until after the break did they come up with some new ideas.

Without Amari Morgan-Smith and Ben Beresford we went with Tope Obadeyi as a lone striker and he coped ok without setting the world afire. As it was he scored our only goal of the game but that wouldn’t be the winner because Chester equalised through a penalty after Ashley Hemmings was adjudged to have handled the ball on the line in an effort to stop it going in. Maybe he should have just left it alone and he’d have stayed on the pitch.

Although the Harriers ‘won’ the first half we never really commanded it and chances were few and far between. It was Chester that had the first sighter of a goal when George Glendon sent an effort well wide of the goal twenty minutes in. We saw chances for Maliq Cadogan and Hemmings with the latters chance going wide and the formers chance easily collected by the Chester keeper Elyh Harrison.

Our best chance to score came just before the break when, from a corner, Obadeyi sent a header just wide of the post.

HT: 0 – 0

At the start of the second period Chester came back out onto the pitch without striker Kurt Willoughby. He was supposed to have been signing on loan for us before the start of the season but opted instead to re-join Chester. Seeing him actually playing convinced me that we hadn’t missed anything.

The move to change their team around seemed to work though as they came straight at us, putting us onto the back foot. Kevin Roberts was the first to test Christian Dibble when he fired well over but we came back with a skewed shot from Joe Foulkes that was blocked on the line by Nathan Woodthorpe. The ball fell into the path of the returning, at last, Jack Lambert but he fired the ball well over. 

Hemmings was the next to send a shot over the bar so it seems that some target practise is called for. A minute or two later and the deadlock was broken. Hemmings now turned provider and sent a pinpoint cross into the area that Tope Obadeyi helped into the net with two defenders stood either side of him just watching.

We failed to build on the lead and, instead, it was Chester who began to look the more likely to score. That came in bizarre circumstances when Dibble dropped the ball from a free kick and it was cleared away in desperation for a corner. That corner was played in and Matt Williams met it amongst a gaggle of players but on the line was Ash Hemmings and he, apparently, stuck a hand out to stop it going in.

The Chester fans immediately called it out while the Harriers fans, who hadn’t got such a clear sight, wondered what the hell was going on. The result was that Hemmo walked off protesting the red card that had been brandished. Charlie Caton duly converted the spot kick.

We had to end our hopes of scoring any further goals and instead looked to be happy with the draw. The game was seen out with just a Declan Weeks effort going wide towards the end of the game.

The draw took us back up into second place, due to defeats for Curzon Ashton and Hereford FC, after dropping to fourth over the weekend. We now have the tough ask of going up to Chorley FC this coming Saturday in the hope that we can keep that second spot with a win. 

FT: 1 – 1

Goal for Harriers: Obadeyi 64

Goal for Chester FC: Caton 76 (pen)

The Harriers Online MotM is: Joe Foulkes

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Dibble
Foulkes
Richards
McNally
Davis
Cadogan			55
Brown
Summerfield
Obadeyi			87
Hemmings
Kouhyar
Subs:
Bishop
Devine
Lambert			55
Thompson			87
Rubio
Chester FC	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Harrison
Woodthorpe
Burke			82
Weeks
Pollock
Bainbridge
Peers
Glendon
Willoughby			46
Caton			86
Roberts			60
Subs:
Hunter			82
Williams			60
Turner			86
Hancox			46
Murray
Referee:
Mr Ben Robinson
Burton on Trent