Venue: Lincoln Road Date: 26-10-24 Peterborough Sports 0 Harriers 1 Att: 348 (away fans: tba) |
Either side of the break is where the excitement happened
Report: Phil Lench
The Harriers managed to overcome a resilient Peterborough Sports with a goal very early in the second half from Amari Morgan-Smith to clinch our second away win in a week and AMS’s sixth goal of the season to make him the Harriers leading scorer.
To be honest up until the goal it had been a game devoid of any skill or real excitement until the final minute of the first half. First a Maz Kouhyar shot had crashed against the bar and in the melee following tempers flared and the former Harrier Hero, Michael Gash, lost his rag and called the referee a cheat leading to a return to the dressing room as the red card was shown. he didn’t go quietly though and argued some more with him before leaving and throwing punches at anything near to him.
It was return to what resembles a first choice eleven for us with Kouhyar being recalled to the starting line up. Kam Kandola and Reece Devine getting starts again. We had a chance to open the scoring when Ashley Hemmings tried his luck with a shot that Dan Lawlor blocked away. He followed that up with a bicycle kick that went over the bar. That style of kick is fast becoming his trademark.
Christian Dibble was called into action when Kaine Felix fired goalwards but he held the ball well. A dangerman in previous meetings Felix was having a quiet game up until then.
Kam Kandola decided it was time for him to get involved more and tried his luck with a header that went over Peter Crook in the Sports goal but he got back far enough to tip the ball over the bar. Then came the first real excitement when Gashie made an exit left.
HT: 0 – 0
The second half was only a minute old when we took the lead. Reece Devine had burst forward from the kick off and played the ball into the area. At first it looked like Morgan-Smith had messed up with the ball getting caught between his feet but he finally managed to get himself sorted and rolled the ball into the net.
Following the goal we finally found our confidence to play some proper football for the first time in the game and looked like a proper team and not like a team that were playing like a mediocre National North team. We began to pass the ball crisply and found space to run into but didn’t actually produce anything that will stay in the memory very long. At last, we thought, but after ten minutes we’d reverted back and the game became lacklustre once again.
Dan Jarvis had a shot from the edge of the area and Felix looked more like his former self for a while but Peterborough rarely tested Dibble. Zak Brown was doing well breaking up play in the middle of the park but little else apart from a shot from distance that Crook saw coming.
Well into injury time and Kouhyar had the final opportunity to add a much needed second goal but Crook saw that coming too and dealt with it easily.
Onto Buxton FC at home next Saturday and we’ll have to play better than today if we have any hopes of beating a team that put seven past Needham Market today and also to get that long overdue home win too.
FT: 0 – 1
Goal for Harriers: Morgan-Smith 47
The Harriers Online MotM is: Reece Devine
Talk about the game here
Latest table and stats here
Peterborough Sports | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
Crook | ||||
Gallagher | ||||
Putman | ||||
Fryatt | ||||
Alban-Jones | ||||
Lawlor | 73 | |||
Sembie-Ferris | ||||
Gyasi | 81 | |||
Gash | ||||
Jarvis | ||||
Felix | ||||
Subs: | ||||
Elsom | ||||
Tootle | ||||
Van Liet | 73 | |||
Goodman | 81 | |||
Steele | ||||
Harriers | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
Dibble | ||||
Foulkes | ||||
Richards | ||||
Kandola | ||||
McNally | ||||
Davis | ||||
Devine | ||||
Brown | ||||
Morgan-Smith | ||||
Hemmings | ||||
Kouhyar | ||||
Subs: | ||||
Palmer | ||||
Lambert | ||||
Cadogan | ||||
Ibbitson | ||||
Obadeyi | ||||
Referee: | ||||
Mr Benjamin Tomlinson | ||||
Rotherham |