Reds rolled over by Reading in the rain
It was a brave Harriers side who eventually capitulated to a strong Reading side in a rain swept Aggborough last night.
The first half was good end to end stuff with the Harriers just edging it for the first quarter but eventually Reading, who were playing in a 4-3-3 formation, started to find their feet. Ex Bluenose Nicky Forster opened the scoring for the Royals when he left Lee Ayres for dead to fire in a superb shot from an acute angle.
It was a short lived lead though because within minutes we had drawn level after Ayres had atoned for his error by lashing in a pin point cross for Drewe Broughton to meet with his head from 6 yds out.
It was 2-1 in our favour a few minutes later with the goal of the game, could be the season!
A through ball from new signing Sean Parrish found Bo Henriksen out wide and the pony tailed Dane took the ball forward to the corner of the area before firing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net from an acute angle. The ball was hit with so much power that it crashed off the underside of the crossbar and almost burst the back of the net. It even received applause from the sprinkling of Reading fans behind the goal.
Our sprinkling of fans thought that the floodgates would open after cutting through the Reading defence in such decisive fashion but the team failed to capitalise on their superiority. Reading started to gain the upper hand with the equaliser arriving shortly before the half time whistle when Ayres let in Forster again and when the shot came in it glanced off Parrish's leg and into the net.
The second half saw Ian Foster coming on for the injured Bo and Dean Bennett for Lee Ayres with Adie Smith slipping into Lees place at full back.
Reading had now changed their formation back to their usual 4-2-2 and they showed a vast improvement for it. They started to find the holes in midfield left by the change round in our side and 10 minutes after the restart went ahead after a mistake from Abdou Sall, who had embarked on a run through the middle of the park, had lost the ball, and failed to get back to cover in time.
The loose ball found Martin Butler in acres of space. He took the ball into the area and, as Stuart Brock advanced, slipped the ball past him into the net.
Five minutes later it was all over with a carbon copy goal. This time another defensive mistake let in Butler and again he drew Brockie out of his goal but this time squared the ball to John Salako who had an easy tap in.
Although the scoreline looked convincing in truth it wasn't. At times the Harriers played their opponents off the park only to see basic defensive errors letting them down.
Drewe Broughton was a handful all evening and is playing with more confidence than last season. The same goes for Bo Henriksen. He look much sharper and was taking chances that he would have wasted last term.
At the back Lee Ayres looked out of his depth, maybe his time will come but I don't think he's ready yet. Abdou? it makes the spine tingle when he goes off on one of his runs but he must learn when and when not to do it. Last night he learnt the hard way, twice.
If we can strike with the flair we showed then the goals should come easily. It's at the back where the problem lies.
Harriers:
Brock; Ayres (Bennett HT), Sall, Hinton, Joy (Stamps 67), Smith, Williams, Parrish, Ducros (Shilton 67), Broughton, Henriksen (Foster HT).
Score: 2-4 Att: 814
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