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Vs afc bournemouth 
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Bo swoops for late goal


Bo Henriksen swooped to seal the points for the Harriers in this tense midfield battle that saw debuts by Dion Scott and Fraser Digby for the Harriers and Warren Cummings for the visitors.

Scott took the place of Kenny Coleman who hadn't been passed fit and had also gone back to Ireland for a family funeral.  Digby replaced the out of sorts Stuart Brock in goal.

JJ Melligan was back from injury for the Harriers but had to make do with a place on the bench after Ian Britton had decided not to risk him with a full return.

Bo Henriksen It was the Harriers who were first into action against a surprisingly mediocre looking Bournemouth.  Within the first few seconds of the game we forced a corner but it was headed over the bar by Bo Henriksen.

A few minutes later Andy Bishop forced the Bournemouth keeper, Tardif, into the first real save of the game when he fired in a good left footed shot from the edge of the area.  He again came close just after when he rose to meet a cross from Bo but the keeper pushed the ball over easily.

From the resulting corner Sean Parrish struck but his effort was easily saved.  A minute later and Tardif was called into action again when he saved a Dean Bennett shot from close range only to find himself saving from the same player again seconds later but the shot was weak and didn't trouble him.

By now the sparse crowd of only 2157 were getting restless and wondering if we would ever make the break through.  Bournemouth were packing the midfield and looked to have come for the draw.

A bit ironic seeing that we did the same in a 0-0 draw down there at the start of the season and they didn't like it.

Fraser Digby was called into action for the first time on 30 minutes when he caught a cross/shot from Hayter but it was no trouble.  Fraser seemed to have the confidence that Stuart Brock lacks when dealing with crosses although his clearances seemed a bit wayward at times.

With the minutes of the first half ticking away the Harriers came close to opening the scoring when Dion Scott sent a long ball forward for Andy Bishop to rush onto but with Tardif off his line and the goal at his mercy Bish put too much power on his lob and it went over the bar.

The whistle went for halftime and I don't think I was alone in wishing for a bit less of the Cheltenham-esque long ball tactics and a bit more of the Harriers type passing game.  We seem to have lost this of late and against big defenders like Bournemouths' it's needed.


HT. 0 - 0

After having very little to do in the first half Digby was called into action straight from the restart when he produced a double save of the highest quality.  First he parried Cummings fierce shot only for the ball to fall for Hayter a few yards away.  Digby flipped back to save his shot cleanly when it looked like a certain goal.

Bournemouth came close again three minutes later when Elliott sent a shot just past the post from the edge of the area.

It was our turn to come close next when Henriksen played Sean Parrish in but he scooped his shot over the bar when he could really have done better.

We were now starting to play football and getting behind the Cherries defence more.  Both Dean Bennett and Andy Bishop were being given more space although Sam Shilton seemed to be struggling a bit.

It was through Bishop that Bournemouth's Tindall gained the first card of the night when again Bishop left him for dead and he had to resort to manhandling him to stop him.

From the free kick a goalmouth scramble ensued until the ball was cleared away by Bournemouth.

Craig Hinton Although we were playing better in attack we were still having some heart stopping moments in defence through our own making.  Twice the normally reliable Craig Hinton played the ball back to the keeper when under no pressure and twice he mishit it.  The second time it almost led to an own goal when he played it past the keeper and only just past the far post.

The Harriers had a genuine penalty appeal turned down on 70 minutes when Bo Henriksen tried to pass the ball into the box for Bishop but it was handled by Broadhurst.  The referee waved away all appeals for handball from the Harriers players.

The end of the game was getting near now and it looked a good time for some substitutions.  Surprisingly it was a poor one.  Sorry Brit, but it was!

Drewe Broughton replaced the industrious Andy Bishop and Bournemouth breathed a sigh of relief.  They responded by sending on the anagram Chukki Eribenne for their best player, Danny Thomas.
See, it's not just Brit.

What was really needed was for JJ to come on to give us that extra something to grab a goal but a few minutes later and it wouldn't matter anyway.

Henriksen fed Dean Bennett the ball on the right and as he sent in a cross there were Bo and Drewe both swooping in like a pair of dive bombers.  Bo got to it first and sent the crowd wild with the only goal of the night.

Bournemouth were forced into action as they saw the point slipping away and sent on Foyewa and Holmes for Broadhurst and Hayter.

Again we made a strange substitution when Ayres came on for Shilton in an effort to swamp our defence ready for the Bournemouth onslaught.  I thought Bournemouth were there for the taking and we could have increased the lead but then again I'm not the gaffer!

Luckily we did manage to hold on through some resolute defending against Bournemouth's best attacking spell of the night.

At the end we ran out deserved winners but if Bournemouth had played anything like Oxford did last week then it would have been a different story.


FT. 1 - 0

The Harriers-Online
Man of the Match is : 
Andy Bishop

Too good for this division.

Best for them:  Danny Thomas.  Ran his heart out for his side.

vote for your
man of the match now

Harriers  subs   cards      Bournemouth  subs   cards 
Digby     Tardif  
Smith     Purches  
Scott     Broadhurst  
Williams     Tindall
Hinton     Cummings  
Parrish     Elliott  
Bennett     Stock  
Flynn     O'Connor
Bishop     S Fletcher  
Henriksen     Thomas  
Shilton     Hayter  
SUBS:       SUBS:    
Brock     Stewart  
Ayres     Eribenne  
Foster     Foyewa  
Broughton     Buxton  
Melligan     Holmes  

REFEREE:
Mr G Cain
Yorkshire

links to some
bournemouth websites:

official site
rednblack net
botw.co.uk
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