Match report Vs Spennymoor Town Venue: Aggborough Date: 30-10-21 Att: 1420 (away fans: 30)

30-10-21 - Report - Kidderminster Harriers 4 Spennymoor Town 0

Harriers terrorise and spook Spennymoor into submission

Report: Harriershane

The Harriers ended October on a high with the visit of high flying Spennymoor Town on Halloween, hoping for a performance that was more a trick than a treat.

Russ Penn opted to hand Cheltenham Town loanee Elliot Bonds his maiden start whilst new signing from Alvechurch, Nick Clayton-Phillips, had to make do with a place on the bench. As expected Tommy Miller’s Moors lined up in their familiar 5-3-2 shape with James Curtis and Carl Magnay out injured leaving them short at the back. New loanee Jorge Sikora from Bradford City coming straight into the team as did player/coach Jason Kennedy for his fifth start of the season in all competitions.

The name of the referee, Claudio Gavillucci, may not have been a familiar one but it is one of the highest order; he was removed from the Italian Refereeing Panel after finishing bottom of their performance statistics for Serie A, where he refereed fifty games. This may well have also been a consequence of his decision to halt a 2018 game between Sampdoria and Napoli for what was described by an Italian website as “discriminatory territorial chants”. He has previous experience at this level this season, taking charge of one of AFC Telford’s early season games.

The Harriers started quickly, settling into a rhythm of retaining possession whilst also trying to create chances, the first of which saw ex-Harrier Dale Eve comfortably save a low effort from Omari Sterling-James. Eve was called into action again, this time by Ashley Hemmings. As many goalkeepers do these days he then rolled the ball out to take a kick downfield but this was charged down by Amari Morgan-Smith who scampered onto his own block and curled an effort goalwards.

In keeping with the Halloween theme the Spennymoor defence were spooked, as Kennedy’s backpass to Eve was high and hard, with the ball being launched in the air by Eve – more height than distance – coming down with cobwebs on it in the end. Again, though, the Moors got away with it.

Their good fortune would soon desert them as once again, Harriers working the ball to the edge of the area before the visitors got themselves into a right old mix up. Involved was Alex Penny and, as the ball broke free, the former Boston Utd man gambled and poked the ball under the charging keeper, who took a right old whack in the process.

Straight from the restart Eve was called back into action to save a low Sam Austin effort. It took until the twenty first minute for Spennymoor to get any kind of shot off in anger and unsurprisingly it was top scorer Glen Taylor who took it. The effort wasn’t enough to scare Luke Simpson though, as it flew high, wide and not at all handsome.

The Harriers onslaught continued and they were only denied a surefire second from Penny’s low pull back by an excellent block from the well-positioned Kennedy. With eight minutes to play until the break Rob Ramshaw found himself in on goal with what was Spennymoor’s second effort of the half, his effort rolled wide but it was enough to be a warning shot across the bows of the Harriers players who were still only a goal to the good despite the one way traffic of the first half.

HT: 1 – 0

A brief period of Moors pressure at the start of the half yielded only a corner which was comfortably dealt with before Harriers had their first chance of the half to double their lead. Played in by the marauding Penny, Amari Morgan-Smith was able to round Dale Eve but he could only roll his shot into the side netting from a tighter than ideal angle.

The chances kept coming as this time Austin would work his former team-mate; Sterling doing well to spot the run of Bonds whose through ball was weighted perfectly. From the corner Nathan Cameron looked to repeat his goal from last week’s game against Bradford Park Avenue, but his – and a couple of other- efforts were blocked.

Eve was a busy, busy man, next being forced to deny Hemmings with a superb diving save before he had his own “Nightmare on Hoo Road”.

From thirty yards out Sterling opted for an ambitious effort which the Bermudan goalkeeper completely misjudged as he shaped to catch the ball. Instead, the ball flew past him and nestled into the bottom corner. If he was going to sleep well given the volume of his activity he may struggle to shake the chills created by that error.

The Harriers continued to carve the visitors open with Austin desperate to get in on the act with a trademark effort from the edge of the box which Eve was equal to. With a quarter of an hour left to play Spennymoor managed their first real period of concerted pressure with Ramshaw seeing an effort go wide before substitute Ryan Hall cracked the inside of the post with a superb effort after turning his man. Simpson was well beaten.

Two minutes later the game was finished as a contest as Austin did get in on the act. Nick Clayton-Phillips was afforded the space to attack the Moors backline and the midweek signing from Alvechurch laid it off to Austin who sent a trademark left-footed effort past the despairing stretch of the goalkeeper. Another Sammy Austin Special on “Sammy Austin Saturday’s”.

You’d have been forgiven for thinking that was it, but fittingly for the day, there was a goal right in the Witching Hour. On as subs Jaiden White and Ethan Freemantle conjured up the chance, pressuring central defender Joe Tait who was trying to shepherd the ball out of play. It was Freemantle who pinched it and ran along the goaline before firing an effort past Eve at his near post from close range to give the 4 – 0 scoreline the look it deserved.

For Tommy Miller, and his patched-up Moors side though, it was a case of toil and trouble as Harriers made them look decidedly poor in what was an exceptional display. The key now is to repeat it, sans Geraldo Bajrami due to suspension, against National League opposition in Grimsby Town in the FA Cup next week.

From Halloween to the magic of the FA Cup. It could only be football!

FT: 4 – 0


Goals for Harriers: Penny 13, Sterling-James 57, Austin 80, Freemantle 91



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HarriersGoalsSubsTimeCards
Simpson    
Penny   
Richards    
Cameron    
Bajrami    
Carrington   
Austin84 
Bonds    
Morgan-Smith    
Hemmings 72 
Sterling-James79 
 
Subs: 
Lowe    
Martin    
Freemantle84 
White 79 
Clayton-Phillips 72 
 
Spennymoor TownGoalsSubsTimeCards
Eve    
Lufudu    
Sikora    
Chandler   
Tait    
Kennedy 46 
McLean    
Moké   
Taylor    
Ramshaw    
Abbott    
 
Subs: 
Flatters    
Anderson    
Hall 46 
Mulhearn    
Peterson    
 
Referee: 
Mr Claudio Gavillucci
The Wirral