18-02-25. Marine AFC 3 Kidderminster Harriers 1. Match report

Harriers fail against another struggling team

Report: Kidderminster Shuttle

Kidderminster Harriers suffered a night to forget at Marine AFC as they fell to a 3-1 defeat with ten men in National League North.

Just days after a richly deserved 2-0 triumph on the road at Alfreton Town, the men from Aggborough were brought down to earth with a bump in Merseyside on a night of very few positives. One such plus point was a 17th goal of the season for Ashley Hemmings who continued to motor ahead as the club’s top scorer, superbly opening his account for the night by turning to meet a dangerous delivery into the area with an overhead kick that flew past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

With just eleven minutes gone it arguably should have been 2-0 and Hemmings with a brace as another dangerous delivery was headed towards the target, beating the goalkeeper but thumping back off the underside of the bar.

Harriers were in total and complete control at that stage, but their joy for the night ended there and then as, once Jack Hazlehurst struck a splendid effort past Christian Dibble and into the top corner via the post to equalise after twenty two minutes, things began to unravel.

Dibble had to immediately be on hand to keep his team at bay as the explosive start gave way to something more uncertain in the visiting ranks, a superb block on twenty five minutes followed up by a stop to thwart Sinclair-Smith, his effort forced over the bar.

Things went from bad to worse on thirty two minutes when the Harriers were reduced to ten men. Tenacious midfielder Ryley Reynolds went in high to win the ball against Joe Mattock, but caught the Marine man in the head as Mattock stooped dangerously low to try and win it. The referee viewed it dimly and flashed the youngster a red card.

The half then ended in disaster for Harriers as, within six minutes, they’d not only lost the midfielder but also conceded two further goals as an unmarked Chris Doyle helped himself with far post headers that found the net.

HT: 3 – 1

The visitors then perhaps sensibly set about avoiding any further serious damage on the night in the second half and defended solidly enough, restricting Marine to precious few chances at a fourth goal.

Dibble did hold well from Leigh Whelan on fifty five minutes before Sinclair-Smith, nearer the end, fired wide of the target.

A disappointed manager, Phil Brown, said at full time:

“I looked at the first fifteen, twenty minutes of the game and I thought: ‘That’s my team.’ “The next twenty minutes of the game was unrecognisable… they get themselves a foothold in the game at 1-1, then it was set-pieces [and] the basics, and we’ve lost the game on basics.”

Brown, who steers his team into battle at Aggborough against Spennymoor Town on Saturday, added:

“I’ve not got to reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, but we do have to go back to the basics and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.”

FT: 3 – 1

Goals for Marine: Hazlehurst 22, Doyle 35, 37

Goal for Harriers: Hemmings 6

The Harriers Online MotM is: Caleb Richards

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Marine AFC	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Metcalfe
Mattock
Wardle
Whelan
Doyle
J Brown
Hazlehurst			68
Gregson
Grant			78
Scarisbrick			65
Sinclair-Smith			92
Subs:
Butler			92
Thomas			68
Lusiama
O Robinson			65
Murphy			78
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Dibble
McNally
Richards
Kandola
Downing
Kellermann
Z Brown			66
Reynolds
Morgan-Smith			67
Hemmings
Kouhyar			36
Subs:
Palmer
K Robinson
Thompson			66
Obadeyi			67
Davis			36
Referee:
Mr Robert Claussen
Manchester