07-03-20 – Report – Southport 1 Kidderminster Harriers 2

The Harriers win on the beach

Report: Phil Lench

The Harriers came away with a great three points from Southport today after Keith Lowe drew us level and then a second half goal from Ashley Hemmings tidied things up for us.

The game was played on what could only be described as a beach: a beach that was actually three miles from the real one. Sand had been dumped on the pitch to make it playable but that was all undone when it was then watered before the game started turning it into shallow quick sand. It was the same for both sides though and isn’t something that Southport could be proud of. 

Declan Weeks was back in the side for us after being out for over three months with a toe injury. He was to come off the bench during the second half to face one of his previous clubs. Starting in place of Oliver Shenton was Ed Williams with the rest of the eleven remaining the same as the one that lost at home to York City two weeks ago.

We had the first chance of taking an early lead when a snap shot from Ashley Hemmings went the wrong side of the post after he had been played in by Ed Williams  in the second minute of the game. That was it for a while with neither side taking a grip on the game. It took the aptly nicknamed Sandgrounders up until nineteen minutes in to get their first sighting of goal and, as luck would have, it they scored.

A cross from Jack Doyle was poorly cleared away and it fell perfectly for the Port captain, David Morgan, to crash the ball home via the left hand post and into the net.

We didn’t take long to retaliate with a goal of our own. A long throw in from Rhys Williams found the head of Keith Lowe in the crowded area with the ball trickling into the net. That was Keiths first goal for the club in this his third spell with the club. He still has some way to go to equal the seven he scored in his previous time for us in 2016-17.

Southport tried to regain their lead with a shot from George Newell that went past the post and then another from Adam Ansons’ head that somehow the Reds keeper, Will Mannion, managed to get to and keep out. We responded with a chance five minutes before the break for Ashley Chambers after he latched onto an Alex Prosser ball in but his chested down shot went wide of the upright.

HT: 1 – 1

The second half commenced following yet another watering of the beach.

The home side burst quickly into action hoping to catch us out sleeping as York did the other week. It followed the same kind of build up with Harriers players stood watching while Jack Sanders waltzed past them. Luckily for us he panicked at the last and sent his shot wide.

Ed Williams woke us up with a shot from distance that warmed the hands of Dan Hanford although it looked unlikely that it was going to beat him. Chambers was next to try his luck as we began to take charge of the game but his lifted shot was going away from goal.

Mannion came to our rescue again soon after when Reagan Ogle took aim but his powerful shot was well saved by the young keeper. Ogle, again, tried to get his side back into the lead with another chance ten minutes later that he crossed in for Morgan but the goalscorers header was off target much to our relief.

It was time for the games first change and on came Dec Weeks for Prosser in the sixty fifth minute.

We had another close call when Ryan Astles sent a ball across the face of the goal but thankfully no one connected with it and it went out for a goal kick. Two minutes later we took the lead.

Ed Williams won the ball and advanced towards Hanfords goal before laying it off for Ashley Hemmings to fire home a rasping shot into the corner of the Southport net. We should have increased the lead a few minutes later when we saw a barrage of shots from Ed, Dec Weeks and Hemmings get blocked on the line before being booted away to safety by a Port defender.

For the remaining ten minutes of the game we played safe and kept the ball along with timely substitutions that restricted the home side to one half chance for the former Chorley striker Jack Sampson and another for Connor Woods in injury time that was easy for Mannion to deal with.

So we come back with another away win: our seventh and the same as play off placed Brackley Town and Boston Utd. Let’s see if we can do it again at Leamington next Saturday now.

FT: 1 – 2

Goal for Southport: Morgan 19

Goals for Harriers: Lowe 24, Hemmings 69

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Southport	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Hanford
Sanders
Doyle
Anson
Astles
Morgan
Benjamin			78
Oliver
Newell
Sampson
Ogle
Subs:
Albinson
Woods			78
Mohammed
Parry
Winnard
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Mannion
Penny
Austin
R Williams
Moyo
Lowe
Prosser			65
Butterfield
Chambers
Hemmings			78
E Williams			87
Subs:
Johnson
Shenton
Samuels			78
Freemantle			87
Weeks			65
Referee:
Mr Paul Brown
Newcastle upon Tyne