Venue: Aggborough Date: 21-12-24 Harriers 2 Southport 0 Att: 2503 (away fans: 88) |
Harriers getting into the Christmas spirit
Report: Phil Lench
A good, solid, performance at home, from the Harriers, against a poor Southport side set us us up for the annual encounter with Hereford FC on Boxing Day. A goal in each half from Ashley Hemmings and Zak Brown gained us the points that took us slightly back up the table into third but it was Ash’s goal that will live long in the memory.
Following a cagey opening, on another windy day, the game suddenly burst to life when, from a seemingly harmless position outside the area, Ash looked up, with the ball at his feet, and let fly a hopeful shot that took a wind assisted dip and went in off the bar after the Port keeper Chris Renshaw appeared to think the ball was going over. The goal may have had a hint of luck about it but it was truly spectacular to see.
From that point on the Reds took complete control of the first half and could, should, have gone into the break with a bigger lead. Soon after the opening goal we almost went another goal up but Amari Morgan-Smiths close range header was chalked off when the lino’s flag was raised. At the time he looked to be onside, for once, but that was hard to tell from my angle.
Tope Obadeyi narrowly missed out when he just couldn’t get to a Joe Foulkes cross into the area. The connection not made just a few inches from the goal line. Then minutes later Amari sent the ball over the bar when it would have been easier to score.
Southport were struggling to cope with our attacking force and all confidence from the opening ten minutes seemed to have drained away from them. May be the inspiration of looking like a poor mans Manchester City in their sky blue kit was a reflection of that teams poor form.
We could have actually found the game drawing level when Christian Dibble almost messed up. Southport had a rare foray forward and attempted to score but Dibble gathered the ball easily. Then it went all wrong as he seemingly lost concentration and dropped the ball with a Soutport man quickly closing in. He tried to grab it but it rebounded back off him to a defender who cleared the ball away, thankfully to save his embarrassment.
The half came to an end without any further action.
HT: 1 – 0
The second half got underway in a similar style to the first ten minutes of the game with scrappiness from both sides. This time though Southport looked to have had a dressing room conversation and were trying to counteract our threat by doubling up on Joe Foulkes (waste of time really) and Tope Obadeyi. He’d had a decent first half but in the second was totally anonymous.
We were still the better side though and it always looked to be a matter of time before we regained our dominance of the game. That came fifty nine minutes in when the ever improving Zak Brown worked himself a chance following a corner. He collected the ball in front of goal and fired home just inside the post.
Again we took inspiration from the goal and went on to control the remainder of the game, always looking to add a third. We came close to that when Tope came alive and a one/two with Hemmings ended with him getting onto the return ball and heading the ball just over the bar.
Soon after a ball was played out from the back to the other side of the halfway line. Amari set off to chase it down with just a couple of defenders in his way. One of them, Festus Arthur, blocked his way and stopped him getting through on goal. The game carried on but the referee looked at him and pointed his finger as if to say “I’ll talk to you later”. Then promptly forgot about it. Should have been a yellow card at least.
With the time running down we seemed to accept the scoreline and just contained what little threat offered by the visitors. The only other chance of note was from substitute Maz Kouhyar beating his man and advancing on goal only to see the keeper making what was probably his first real save of the game.
So the game ended with another good win for us and that will take us into the Boxing Day game in good spirits and, hopefully, make it a good Christmas for the fans too and on that note can I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Harriers Online.
FT: 2 – 0
Goals for Harriers: Hemmings 10, Brown 59
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 | ||||
Kandola | ||||
Downing | ||||
McNally | ||||
Brown | ![]() |
|||
Reynolds | ![]() |
73 | ![]() |
|
Morgan-Smith | ||||
Hemmings | ![]() |
![]() |
84 | |
Obadeyi | ![]() |
70 | ||
Subs: | ||||
Palmer | ||||
Devine | ||||
Kouhyar | ![]() |
70 | ||
Davis | ![]() |
73 | ||
Kellermann | ![]() |
84 | ||
Southport | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
Renshaw | ||||
Quansah | ![]() |
81 | ||
Doyle | ||||
Minhan | ||||
Moore | ||||
Knight-Percival | ![]() |
81 | ||
Lloyd | ![]() |
81 | ![]() |
|
Hilton | ||||
Proctor | ![]() |
|||
Philliskirk | ||||
Arthur | ||||
Subs: | ||||
Thompson | ||||
Morgan | ![]() |
81 | ||
Angus | ||||
Keane | ![]() |
81 | ||
Burgess | ![]() |
81 | ||
Referee: | ||||
Mr Harrison Blair | ||||
Woking |