28-08-17 – Report – Brackley Town 2 Harriers 0

Depleted Harriers fail to please the fans. Again!

Report: Phil Lench

For the second away game in a row the Harriers management and players left the field at the end of a game to shouts and calls of derision from their disappointed travelling fans. It happened at Salford City two weeks when we were given a lesson in finishing and then we were told that it was going to be sorted and that it wouldn’t happen again. Today it happened again but the difference today wasn’t the masterclass in finishing but the confidence in a winning team no matter how bad they basically were.

If this Brackley team that beat us today finish at the top of the table then I’ll eat my hat, shirt, socks and shoes. Compared to us, Fylde and Stockport County last season then these table toppers are a mere shadow with their long ball game and the occasional glimpse of football. Sadly we don’t resemble the Harriers of last season either.

In that win on Saturday at home to Alfreton we saw a change to our normal formation and adopted a long called for 4-4-2 which allowed Joe Ironside to have someone play alongside him instead of being isolated as he has been all season so far. With that change came more freedom for Ironside and it paid off with a goal. The fans were hoping for the same again today and that we would see Ironside start the game alongside Andre Brown but that never happened.

Instead, just minutes before the game was to start, we were told that not only Ironside would be missing through injury but so too would Dan Bradley and Joel Taylor. Not only that but also Junior Joachim had left the club before the Alfreton game and no one had even bothered to tell the people that pays the players wages.

Because of that we only had four players on the bench, one of which was some guy called Bannister who, as far as we could see, was still sat on the stairs because he wasn’t out on the pitch warming up. Up front it was Browns turn to be isolated and with no decent service supplied to him he was totally ineffective.

Let’s get onto the game. Brackley hoofed it around. We chased shadows or played the ball from side to side and back again. They scored mid way through the first half.

To be honest both teams were evenly matched and the goal came from nothing after Shane Byrne sent over a cross from wide and the dangerous Lee Ndlovu was there to head it past Brandon Hall. It could have been two goals a minute later but we have Liam Daly to thank for clearing off the line with Hall beaten. We had seen half chances for both sides before and after the goal with Brackley going the closest. We hadn’t had a single shot on target to worry the former Harriers keeper Danny Lewis.

HT: 1 – 0

The second half saw a double change for the Harriers with Josh Webb and Daniel Nti replacing Cieron Keane and Kenny Digie. Both were having poor games and the replacements weren’t much better.

We started the half the better side but still failed to get anything on target. Manny Sonupè tried his luck with a shot that lacked conviction and got diverted away from goal anyway and again later he repeated the exercise with the same result. Brackley slowly regained control by the hour mark and began to force Hall into some excellent saves but he could do nothing about the goal that clinched the game for the home side.

They had only moments earlier seen a goal ruled out for a foul after Luke Graham had climbed on a back to give him the advantage but a minute later our defence switched off completely to allow Aaron Williams to float a ball over to the far post for the un-marked James Armson to head beyond the stranded Harriers keeper.

Brackley seemed happy with the result and began to timewaste a little but we didn’t seem to want to up our game at all and the urgency, if there had been any beforehand, had all but evaporated. We had a late chance from Ryan Croasdale that could have been classed as a shot on target if it had actually reached the target but it was deflected away for a corner before it had got within three yards of Lewis.

Thankfully the game ended and some fans called John Eustace out to show their displeasure at yet another poor result that sees the Harriers drop down to their lowest placing so far this season into 14th place in the table. I didn’t care. I just walked out. 

FT: 2 – 0

Goals for Brackley: Ndlovu 27, Armson 66

The Harriers Online MotM is: Brandon Hall

Talk about the game here and phone the Harriers Hotline on 01905 577 777 after the game too

Latest table and stats here

Brackley Town	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Lewis
Myles
Gudger
S Byrne
Graham
Dean
Tilney			62
Armson
Ndlovu			81
A Williams			74
A Walker
Subs:
Lowe			74
J Byrne
G Walker			62
Franklin
Diggin			81
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Hall
T Williams
Keane			46
Croasdale
Daly
Digie			46
Austin
McQuilkin
Brown
N’Gwatala			62
Sonupè
Subs:
Weeks			62
Nti			46
Webb			46
Bannister
Referee:
Mr Anthony Tankard
Sheffield