22-01-22 – Report – Kidderminster Harriers 3 York City 0

Harriers see off a pathetic York City

Report: Phil Lench

The Harriers bounced back from the midweek defeat at Hereford FC in the best way possible this afternoon with an easy trouncing of the worst York City side to visit Aggborough in many a year. They were so bad there was more fight in their fans at halftime than the team they follow. Yes, their fans were fighting amongst themselves and it would be interesting to know why.

Even though City had the early advantage they still didn’t trouble Luke Simpson in the Harriers goal and, in fact, I don’t think he was ever troubled at all during the ninety minutes. I don’t recall them having a direct shot on goal at all.

In the first five minutes we could have gone into a clear lead after Alex Penny just failed to connect with a free kick over and then soon after he headed over from a corner. We had other chances to grab that all important first goal but then York started to get their groove together.

For the next fifteen minutes or so City began to control the game more without looking as if they would achieve anything with the possession. The Reds were looking slightly anxious, probably with the Tuesday night game on their minds, and took a while to settle. With two players making their debut – Devonte Redmond and Matt Preston – maybe they were concentrating on protecting them and helping them along. As it was they both settled quickly and looked like they had been with us all season.

Then suddenly the game changed for the better. City had been pressing us but the ball fell for Geraldo Bajrami and, thinking quickly, he spotted Amari Morgan-Smith waiting on the halfway line. He sent the ball over and AMS ran onto it leaving the defenders in his wake. The keeper, Pete Jameson, tried to force him wide but the Harrier centre forward skipped past him and sent the ball home from the tightest of angles.

After that the remainder of the half was one way traffic.

Chances were going in from all angles but sadly they weren’t being put away until a free kick on the edge of the area was awarded. Mitch Hancox, on loan from that team over the county border, gave away the advantage by toppling Omari Sterling-James over and it was the free kick expert who lined it up. We knew what was going to happen and so it passed with the fierce kick rising then dipping into the corner of the net.

A West Ham scout was seen scribbling into his notebook ‘Do not give away free kicks two yards outside the area‘.

In the last minute of the half it should have been three when Bajrami headed over even though it was easier to score.

HT: 2 – 0

The second half started with a tactical change by York with Matty Brown coming on for Maxim Kouogun. They looked the better for it and started to pass the ball around tidily but that was all they did. They didn’t do anything with their possession.

Soon enough the Reds were back in full charge. Another free kick for Sterling-James, this time at more of an angle to the area was, this time, powered low through the defending bodies and took Jameson by surprise but he saw enough of it coming at him to dive and collect it. 

We seemed to relax following that and gave City more time on the ball. Normally a dangerous thing to do but we were in full control and didn’t look like we were going to give too much of an advantage away. Come the seventy fourth minute and it was definitely ‘game over’.

Ashley Hemmings sent a ball into the area for Sammy Austin to run onto. With the City defenders isolated once again it was easy for him to sidestep the weakest of weak challenges and fire the ball into Jameson’s bottom left hand corner for his tenth goal of the season. 

With the commanding lead and the chance to take the foot off the pedal we made some substitutions with, first, Sammy making way for Marcus Dinanga and then a few minutes later Jaiden White replacing AMS. Dinanga had what looked like a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside at the end but we played out the remaining minutes safely and now move up to fourth place in the table.

Onwards now to a shortish trip to Kettering on Tuesday evening and hopefully a jump up to third place if Chorley can beat AFC Fylde at their place. 

FT: 3 – 0

Goals for Harriers: Morgan-Smith 18, Sterling-James 41, Austin 74

The Harriers Online MotM is: Amari Morgan-Smith

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Simpson
Penny
Richards
Preston
Bajrami
Carrington
Austin			76
Redmond			64
Morgan-Smith			82
Hemmings
Sterling-James
Subs:
Lowe
Foulkes
Martin			64
White			82
Dinanga			76
York City	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Jameson
Duckworth
Barrow
Newton
Kouogun			46
Hancox
Dyson
Woods			69
McKay
Donaldson
Longdon
Subs:
Campbell
Haase
Brown			46
James
Willoughby			69
Referee:
Mr Dale Baines
Liverpool