06-08-22. Match report Vs Blyth Spartans

Ash Hemmings gets the season off to a winning start

Report: Phil Lench

The Harriers opened the season with a hard worked, single goal, win at Blyth Spartans. The goal coming in the second half of the game from Ashley Hemmings after a first half that was scrappy and, at times, a little feisty.

As is always the case with opening day games the players on both sides are never really sure of themselves, or each other, and so it was with these two. It was Blyth on a sanded, already, pitch that started the strongest testing Tom Palmer early doors with an effort from Lewis McNall that he got down well to stop.

A few minutes later McNall went up for a ball with Krystian Pearce behind him and the Harriers new centre half should consider himself lucky to not receive a red card after he clumsily pushed him over. Instead the referee handed him a yellow (not the first of the day either) while McNall had to change his shirt due to some blood on it.

Minutes later and McNall should have been given a red card after he retaliated to something by pushing his hand into Tom Owen-Evans face in an off the ball incident but instead the ref gave both of them yellow cards. Meanwhile we were trying to get on with the game with Joe Foulkes defending for his life and, when able, trying to create attacking moves by driving forwards.

The results of Joes’ efforts saw chances go begging for both Ethan Freemantle and Yusifu Ceesay with both seeing chances blocked by the Spartans defender Toby Lees. Really with a little more composure both efforts should have gone in but that composure will come with more games under their belts. That was shown five minutes before the end of the half when Freemantle found himself free on goal, having beaten the Blyth offside trap, but then blazed the ball well over the bar.    

HT: 0 – 0

The second period started with a great chance for Blyth, from the veteran Nicky Deverdics, when he fired in a thunderbolt from the edge of the area that saw Palmer flipping backwards to tip over the bar for a corner. Excellent from both players.

A few minutes later and the first real knockback for us came when Freemantle and Lees both went up together and clashed heads. Lees was soon back up but Ethan was down for much longer receiving treatment but then limped off with an ankle injury. It seems that he fell badly in the incident and turned his ankle meaning that we could have no recognised centre forward for the next few weeks with Amari Morgan-Smith also out with a groin injury.

Ceesay took his place up front but the referee refused to allow Zak Brown to come on as Freemantles replacement. Strong opinions were being shouted out by Russ Penn but a few minutes later it was all ok when Ash Hemmings scored the only, winning, goal of the game after TOE played in Ceesay to surge forwards. This time he kept his cool and slipped the ball across the face of the goal for Ash to slide it home beyond the wrong footed keeper, Alex Mitchell.

Brown then came on to go out wide and then we began to look far more dangerous going forwards. 

Blyth responded to the goal with Deverdics sent a cross into the area but it evaded all of his players but was sent out for a corner. Taken by Deverdics himself the corner found the head of JJ O’Donnell but Palmer saved his effort easily enough.

Back up the other end and Joe Foulkes was driving forwards yet again but this time, after leaving players in his wake, his cross was overhit and went out for a goalkick. Not so the next time though as once more he worked his way through and slipped in Ceesay. The stand in striker this time sent his shot wide of the far post.

Ceesay was in action again seconds later and this time he got closer to scoring. He muscled his way through to a one on one with the keeper but then lost his way as the keeper dropped down on the ball to collect. Once Ceesay learns to control the ball at his feet he’ll be a great danger but at the moment he has too many legs and they tend to get tangled up.

Further chances came our way for Brown, Hemmings and Ceesay but all were poorly executed and went either high, wide or over. Then came a strange move on the part of Russ Penn when Ceesay was removed from the arena in favour of Keziah Martin. The aim looked to be to hold on to what we had and see the game out but that can be a dangerous thing to do and so it could have turned out.

Blyth began to attack our goal more and for the final ten minutes of the game it was backs to the wall for us as we tried to stem the onslaught. The Spartans were finding help from elsewhere too when a mix up at a throw in ended up with two balls on the pitch. The ref stopped play and gave a dropped ball in Blyths favour??? that they then took forward towards Palmer but was dealt with defensively.

Owen-Evans cleared the ball with a thud into the back of the home supporters behind the goal that could have hurt if it had hit someone but then it was back up the other end where the same player struck a fine shot just wide of goal and then Hemmings, soon after, came close to scoring with an overhead kick that went narrowly over the bar.

With five minutes added on the referee wasn’t finished and she booked Tom Palmer in the final few seconds for so called timewasting after a Blyth player grabbed to ball out of his hands and placed the ball on the edge of the area. Tom moved the ball to where he wanted it and got booked yet there was nothing similar for the unsporting behaviour of the Blyth player that took the ball out of his hands in the first place.

The game finally came to an end and with the first win under our belts, and the longest trip of the season out of the way, we can now look forwards to next Saturday and a nice local derby against Leamington FC.

FT: 0 – 1

As a post script to the game. As we waited on the supporters coach in readiness to make our way home some young idiot threw something at a side window and shattered the glass meaning the coach could no longer be used and that we would have to wait for a replacement.

For the next hour or so we were treated superbly by the Blyth chairman and his fellow supporters with a free drink in their club along with snacks etc. They were most apologetic for what had happened and couldn’t do enough for us.

We got on the replacement coach at around 7.30 and then the second coach at Scotch Corner around ninety minutes later finally returning home just before the hour struck one. A long night was, thankfully, made all the better for the win and the superb treatment from the Blyth supporters and staff. Thank you Blyth. 

Goal for Harriers: Hemmings 52

The Harriers Online MotM is: Joe Foulkes

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Blyth Spartans	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Mitchell
Evans
Liddle
Nicholson
Deverdics
Lees
Richardson
Hickey
McNall			76
O’Donnell
McKeown			65
Subs:
Buddle
Gillies			76
Fishburn			65
Elsdon
Dopson
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Palmer
Foulkes
Richards
Knight-Percival
Pearce
Byrne
Owen-Evans			89
Lowe
Freemantle			52
Hemmings
Ceesay			83
Subs:
Leak
Brown			52
Martin			83
Margetson
Rogers			89
Referee:
Ms Helen Conley
Bishops Auckland