| Venue: Aggborough Date: 29-03-24 Harriers 1 Altrincham 3 Att: 3688 (away fans: 272) |
Harriers look to be down and out
Report: Phil Lench
A lesson in finishing from Altrincham looks to have consigned the Harriers to a return to the death pit of the National North for next season. With us still firmly ensconced in 22nd place in the table we need to win at least three of our remaining four games and hope that all those above us, some with many games in hand, undergo a total collapse and lose all of their games.
You have to go up to 17th place to find another club that have played the same amount of games as us (42 and 43 points) with Woking on 48 points. Apart from Wealdstone (39 games) and Ebbsfleet (40 games) the remaining three (Dorking, Boreham Wood and Maidenhead) having played one less than us.
A miracle might happen, but that’s only in fiction, and our miracle didn’t turn up today.
It all looked so promising at the start of the game with the Harriers completely in charge and then we scored. Zak Brown converting superbly with a head high kick into the net beyond the reach of Ethan Ross in the Alty goal. With the fans hoping and praying for a second goal disaster struck and our normally tight defence totally lost the plot in allowing Chris Conn-Clark to loft the ball over from wide to Lewis Banks on the edge of the area. Unattended he had the simple job of laying the ball back across the goalmouth for Regan Linney to slot home. The defenders suddenly turned up from out of the blue.
The goal seemed to knock us back slightly but we continued to stay in charge but without the early threat. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was running the show in midfield with crisp passing and trying to bring others into the game but they weren’t on his wavelength and seemed to take forever lining a shot up or finding a team mate. Having said that we were still getting plenty of chances to score but our shooting was poor, blocked or ballooned over.
HT: 1 – 1
The second half was a different matter. Altrincham took charge of the game and we hardly got a look in and within minutes of the restart our defence went to sleep once again.
A rare mistake by Alex Penny saw the ball run loose for Alex Newby to collect and head for goal where Conn-Clarke was perfectly placed to rifle the ball, on the angle, beyond the reach of Christian Dibble. It could have been a premature three just minutes later when C C-C was given the ball again on the corner of the area but this time his angled shot was just a little too wide.
We tried to regain the game again but to be honest we just haven’t got the all important strike power any more. JET was beginning to tire and his influence on the game was diminishing and there was no one capable of taking over from him. The new lad, Charlie Weston, tried but hadn’t got the experience of JET and often ran into dead ends or, when he did get a chance to shoot, it was from too far distance.
Now three quarters of the way into the game the third goal arrived and again it was courtesy of the gifted – if slightly chubby – Conn-Clarke. Again he left our defenders for dead and broke into his seemingly favourite position on the corner of the area from where his shot across into the far corner easily met his target and the game was over.
We made a triple substitution that probably came a bit too late but they made no real difference to the way we played or to the inevitable final result. I can’t recall a single decent shot on goal from us during the half and we now find ourselves clinging to the edge of the precipice by our fingernails.
FT: 1 – 3
Goal for Harriers: Brown 20
Goals for Altrincham: Linney 24, Conn-Clarke 51, 73
The Harriers Online MotM is: Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
Talk about the game here
Latest table and stats here
| Harriers | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
| Dibble | ||||
| Penny |  | 81 | ||
| Richards | ||||
| Kpekawa | ||||
| Pearce | ||||
| Weston |  | |||
| Brown |  | |||
| Emmanuel-Thomas |  | 81 | ||
| Amari Morgan-Smith | ||||
| Hemmings | ||||
| Lambert |  | 81 | ||
| Subs: | ||||
| Miller |  | |||
| Preston | ||||
| Bellis | ||||
| Omotayo |  | 81 | ||
| Robinson |  | 81 | ||
| Altrincham | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
| Ross | ||||
| Banks | | |||
| Jones | ||||
| Baines | ||||
| Cooper | ||||
| Osborne | ||||
| Newby | | 81 | ||
| Wilson | ||||
| Linney | | | 64 | |
| Conn-Clarke | | | 74 | |
| Donowa | ||||
| Subs: | ||||
| Kosylo | ||||
| Angus | | 64 | ||
| Roscoe | | 81 | ||
| Hancox | | 74 | ||
| Mooney | ||||
| Referee: | ||||
| Mr Ross Martin | ||||
| Bridport | ||||