18-10-22. FA Cup 4th Qual Rd replay. Match report Vs AFC Fylde

The ‘concentrate on the league’ cliche

Report: Phil Lench

As expected the Harriers made an early exit from this seasons FA Cup, going out of the competition to AFC Fylde in this replay. On Saturday last we could only hold them to a draw at Aggborough with the fans convinced that was it for us having never beaten Fylde in the eight games played against them.

As it is the fans were correct after the Harriers again lined up without a recognised striker in the starting eleven but at least having two on the bench with the return of Ethan Freemantle following a short spell out injured. With that strikerless eleven we, as expected, rarely had a shot on goal with, at one stage, going a full hour without testing their keeper once.

Fylde did try to give us a helping hand by dropping Nick Haughton to the bench in what looked to be thumbing a nose at us by saying ‘we can beat you lot without our leading scorer’. We failed to take heed.

At first it did look promising for us when Jack Bearne saw his angled shot fumbled on the line by Chris Neal only to see the keeper recover well to gather the ball into his chest. The home side responded soon after with an effort for Connor Barrett that resulted in Tom Palmer collecting the ball easily.

More chances came the way of both sides without either really testing the opposing keeper. Yusifu Ceesay for us with that last attempt on goal for a hour while for Fylde both Danny Rowe and Danny Philliskirk had a couple of weak attempts.  

HT: 0 – 0

The second period was more of the same playing out in front of a sparse crowd but probably a good crowd to the eyes of Fylde. The first action of the half fell to Siya Ligendza with possibly the best effort of the evening. Palmer punching the ball over his bar as the ball came serving towards him. Rowe had another chance just after as Fylde began to take control of the game but his shot, from distance, was well over the bar.

The first sub of the night was made by us as we bought on Amari Morgan-Smith in place of Keziah Martin and at last we had a striker on the field but had sacrificed a creative midfielder for him. We never got a chance to reap any benefit from the change though because within a minute the first goal went in and it went in for Fylde.

The former Leamington FC midfielder Kyle Morrison crossed the ball into our area and Ligendza made no mistake with a header into the net from close range. A mixture of poor defending and weak keeping helping them to take the lead. Ligendza’s reward was to be subbed almost immediately for their latest record signing, Luke Charman, to come on.

Fylde went in search of a second goal with Alex Whitmore getting a firm header in from a corner just after Scott Burgess had replaced Jack Bearne and Ethan Freemantle had come on for Shane Byrne leaving us even more depleted in midfield. It became all too late though as Fylde sealed the win and with it a home tie against Gillingham in the next round. Charman the scorer after Tom Walker played him in to fire the ball into the top corner from just outside the area.

We rallied a little as Ben Margetson headed over the bar but it was all too late. Our so called strikeforce had failed to land a glove on Fylde and now we can ‘concentrate on the league’ with a home game against Darlington on Bonfire Night instead of entertaining League Two strugglers Gillingham. 

FT: 2 – 0

Goals for AFC Fylde: Ligendza 64, Charman 82

Talk about the game here

Latest table and stats here

AFC Fylde	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Neal
Conlan
Barratt			59
Weston
Walker			83
Whitmore
Davis
Philliskirk
Rowe
Morrison
Ligendza			71
Subs:
Bird
Obi
Hatfield
Whitehead			59
Rowley			83
Haughton
Charman			71
Harriers	Goals	Subs	Time	Cards
Palmer
Leak
Richards
Margetson
Pearce
Byrne			78
Martin			61
Lowe
Bearne			69
Hemmings
Ceesay
Subs:
Emery
Morgan-Smith			61
Brown
Lissimore
Freemantle			78
Burgess			69
Rogers
Referee:
Mr Paul Marsden
Leyland