29-12-18 – Report – Stockport County 1 Kidderminster Harriers 0

Harriers drop to ninth

Report: Harriershane

The Harriers left Edgeley Park downbeat and defeated by a resurgent Stockport County side who left it late to take all three points.

171 Harriers fans made the journey north and were greeted with the news that Billy Daniels was unavailable due to an injury sustained against Hereford and more concerning, an ‘injury’ to Ed Williams. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but January is upon us…

In their absences Russ Penn and James Baxendale were handed starts, with sixteen year old Jaiden White taking a place on the bench. For those who like their statistics, this was Stockport’s first victory over Harriers in seven league attempts.

The first sight of goal came from Dan Bradley, who let fly with a low effort from distance which was dealt with easily by Ben Hinchcliffe. County made an enforced substitution in the eighth minute with pacy winger Darren Stephenson replacing the hamstrung Sam Walker and proceeded to run Harriers ragged for the remainder of the game.

With ten minutes played the hosts strung together a run of four corners in a row, stemming from a Matthew Warburton effort that was saved by Hall. Although unconvincing at times, a foul on the keeper allowed the visitors to stem the tide for the moment. County, through Scott Duxbury, teased Harriers again with an effort that only just went past Hall’s post.

That would  become a theme of the game as Stockport pushed and pushed but kept seeing efforts flash across the goal. With half an hour played, Harriers were again thankful to Hall who saved well from an Adam Thomas effort before the dangerous Stephenson flashed the rebound off target.

Restricted to half chances and pot shots the Harriers were on the back foot; Penn and Richards having efforts that did not unduly trouble Hinchcliffe. County did have the ball in the net through Frank Mulhern following a corner but that was correctly disallowed for a foul on Ryan Johnson.

HT: 0 – 0

Emerging for the second half was Aaron Phillips in the place of James Baxendale. This led to the rare sight of Sam Austin playing in his correct position on the right wing. What a novel idea…

Harriers again had the first action of the second half with Johnson seeing his header saved easily by Hinchcliffe before Kane Richards delivered his final contribution of the game; a free kick thirty yards out softly drilled into the wall before turning and tripping the defender who had collected the ball, earning the Harriers man a yellow card before being unceremoniously hooked in favour of George Waring.

Just past the hour an aerial scramble saw Fraser Horsfall direct a header goalwards that was kept out on the line by Hinchcliffe. Shortly after the Harriers nearly had the ball in the net. Another scramble saw Dan Bradley and Waring prone in the six yard box but unable to divert the ball home.

The Harriers contingent felt that was their big chance and were proven correct as County began to swarm forward and put the Harriers backline under severe pressure before the breakthrough was finally made by right back Sam Minihan from a Scott Duxbury corner, won from a tussle between Warburton and Johnson.

Deflated and downbeat, it’s a poor end to 2018 for Harriers as County go from strength to strength. Can the Reds bounce back on derby day at home to Hereford FC and start 2019 as we, the fans, want them to go on? Who knows…

FT: 1 – 0

Goal for Stockport: Minihan 80

The Harriers Online MotM is: Lee Vaughan

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

Stockport County	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Hinchcliffe
Minihan
Duxbury
Turnbull
A Palmer
Stott
Thomas			80
Walker			9
Mulhern			80
Osborne
Warburton
Subs:
Ormson
Cowan			80
Jackson
Stephenson			9
Bell			80
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Hall
Vaughan
Austin
Penn
Horsfall
Johnson
Weeks
Baxendale			46
Chambers
Bradley
Richards			57
Subs:
T Palmer
O’Connor
Waring			57
Phillips			46
White
Referee:
Mr Richard Aspinall
Blackpool