09-03-19 – Report – Chorley FC 3 Kidderminster Harriers 0

Harriers fail to score against Chorley again

Report: Phil Lench

The Harriers lost at home to Chorley FC by four goals back in November and failed to score themselves. Today at their Victory Park ground we, yet again, failed to score and if you want to look for our last goal scored against them then go back to that Arthur Gnahoua wonder strike that gave us the advantage in the 2016-17 play off game up there. Shamefully we withered and died back at Aggborough a few days later and the rest is goalless history.

On arrival at the ground it was easy to see that we were going to struggle on such a poor pitch that gave the ball no bounce whatsoever but it’s the same for both sides. It’s just that Chorley play on it all the time.

The premonition soon materialised when from the opening seconds they threatened to break through us with ease and score. Last gasp defending and a brave save from Brandon Hall kept them out but that defending also let us down two minutes later when Ryan Johnson was left flat footed at a ball over the top that Josh Wilson ran on to and fired past Hall making it look so obviously easy to exploit our weak spots.

That was Chorleys only tactic really. Play it high and long to leave us helpless in the middle of the park. Thankfully we soon cottoned onto their historic way of playing and showed them how to play it on the ground. At times we looked so good to watch with Joel Taylor and Liam McAlinden opening them up continually but that final ball wasn’t there, again, and any chances they made went begging as the Chorley man mountain defenders lapped up any ball into the area.

For all our possession we weren’t getting many chances and it was still the hosts that looked the sharper when, with any chance the got, they would all break together and pour forward in unison in search of a goal. It was only some decent work from Brandon Hall that kept them out.

With a few minutes left to go before the break it was Hall that turned in a double wonder save from a Scott Leather header that he flew across the goal to flip into the air then back the other way to stop the ball on the line. A last gasp clearance from Taylor sent the ball to halfway line safety. 

HT: 1 – 0

After that slightly promising first half the fans were optimistic that a little fine tinkering during the break would see us build on our passing game and grab a goal back. Sadly that never happened and we looked beaten before the first few minutes of the half were out.

We still had trouble coping with the Chorley way of playing and our own way was never going to work. Both Joe Ironside and Ed Williams were seeing very little of the ball and only Ashley Chambers was out looking for it, running it down and chasing lost causes. McAlinden and Sam Austin kept trying to pump balls into the area but they were just meat and drink to the hulks at the back.

It took nine minutes into the half for us to see our first real chance of a goal when Ironside got in close to the byeline and tried his luck from a narrow angle but the Chorley keeper, Matt Urwin, got down without too much trouble to stop it going in. Then the rot set in.

A minute later the home side increased their lead with a second goal for Josh Wilson when again the played the long ball over the top to Marcus Carver who then played Alex Newby in to advance further on goal. He passed the ball on for Wilson who left Johnson for dead to fire home. It was Wilson who scored three times for his side at Aggborough and it looked like he was going to be repeating the exercise again today.

Six minutes later and it was game over. This time it wasn’t Wilson that scored but his equally dangerous team mate Carver when Adam Blakeman crossed the ball into the area for Carver to run onto and fire in off the bar.

That Harriers response was to begin taking off our three main strikers as first Williams went off to be replaced by Milan Butterfield and then soon after Kane Richards came on as Ironside headed for the bench. There was no improvement in our play although Richards did try his best to get something going without any luck .

Carver had the ball in the net for what could have been their fourth goal – matching the scoreline from four months ago – but it was ruled out for offside. With that they were content to run the game down while in the last minute of the game we took off a third striker, Chambers, to give defender Josh Heaton his first taste of action since Alfreton Town at home in January.

We now face another tough game at home to Spennymoor Town next Saturday at Aggborough and we could also be facing a similar result if we don’t begin to up our game against these fellow play-off hopefuls. Lose that and we can wave goodbye.

FT: 3 – 0

Goals for Chorley FC: Wilson 3, 60, Carver 66

The Harriers Online MotM is: Ashley Chambers & Brandon Hall

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Chorley FC	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Urwin
Challoner
Blakeman
Teague
Leather			78
Meppen-Walters
A Newby
Cottrell
Carver			78
Wilson			70
E Newby
Subs:
Almond
Jordan
Hooper			78
McGurk			70
Anson			78
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Hall
Austin
Taylor
Penn
Horsfall
Johnson
McAlinden
Daniels
Ironside			70
Chambers			89
Williams			66
Subs:
Palmer
Butterfield			66
Heaton			89
Higginson
Richards			70
Referee:
Mr Samuel Barrott
West Riding