Date: 29-07-23 Well that wasn’t very good was it

0AFC Telford UtdKidderminster Harriers FC0

You go through pre-season with the main aim of getting minutes under the players belts and trying out various game plans that you hope would befuzzle the opposition. That’s all good and how it should be but the one thing you don’t do by the time the final friendly comes around is befuzzle the fans instead.

We arrived at Telford hoping to see something that would resemble what would line up against Woking next Saturday but this was nothing like it. One recogniseable central defender started – Matt Preston – but the three that you would expect to take the 4, 5, and 6 shirts: Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Krystian Pearce and Reiss McNally were all on the bench. One that was out there was a triallist, Player B, who turned out to be Paul Downing last seen playing for Rochdale AFC, on loan from Portsmouth.

From the off the game was a good advert for the Southern League Premier Central that Telford will be in next season. Not such a good advert for us though as we played the game at their level. Balls hoofed from the back, passes mis-placed and a general lack of energy is not something we want to be served up with.

Ashley Hemmings fired across goal, and out while towards the end of the half he tested the former Harriers keeper Brandon Hall with a shot from distance that Brandon pushed away for a corner. 

1st half team: Palmer, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Penny, Player B, Preston, Lissimore, Lambert, Leesley, McDonagh, Hemmings, Hewett.

We were expecting wholesale changes for the second half but the only one that happened was Kieran Phillips coming on for Hemmings. The rest continued on with the same tactics as before.

Jack Lambert fired a well taken free kick over the bar. Tom Palmer produced a couple of good saves, one from Montel Gibsons close range header, while at the end of the game Kobe Hall was bought down in the box but the referee turned the spot kick down. A bit of cat fighting ensued and, to be honest, that was the one and only bit of excitement in a poor game.

Caleb Richards, Amari Morgan-Smith and Shane Byrne remained on the bench throughout while the unpicked Christian Dibble wandered around looking lost.

Subs: Bishop, Richards,  Pearce,  Knight-Percival, McNally, Phillips, Morgan-Smith, Brown, Byrne, Hall, Freemantle.

Att: 935. From Harriers 110.