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Last minute crusher


The Harriers saw their deserved victory ripped from their grasp today as Hartlepool, with the help of pathetic refereeing, grabbed a goal in the fifth minute of the four minutes of added time.

Brit opted to give Bo a start after saying all week that he wasn't fit enough and kept new signing Hugh McAuley on the bench again.  Scott Stamps failed to make the starting line-up too.

The game started at pace with the Reds having so high a percentage of the play it made one wonder what Hartlepool were doing at the top of the table.  A position they have held for most of the season.

Bo Henriksen Right from the off the Harriers almost took the lead when Bo Henriksen chipped a perfect ball from the byline to Andy Bishop.  His first time shot came crashing down off the crossbar and onto the line.  I couldn't see if it was a goal or not but judging from the lack of a crowd reaction I don't think it did.

Seven minutes later came the first of referee Boyesons' weird decisions when Bo Henriksen was sent sprawling in the box by a Pool defender.  The ref had obviously been talking to others in the fraternity about our players and immediately booked Bo for diving.  I'm surprised he didn't try and book Broughton for elbows when he came on later.

Bo got his revenge soon after when he pushed home the ball from a goalmouth scramble.

A great cross from the back from Sam Shilton gave Bish the chance to score but his first time shot was charged down and as the ball squirmed past Anthony Williams in goal for Hartlepool it fell just right for Bo to push it home.

Five minutes later and the Harriers turned the screw on the league leaders further when Andy Bishop finally got his chance.  With Bish on the edge of the area a long ball came in and as Westwood mis-timed his jump to head it away Bishop was there to turn and sweep past him and hit a shot of Premiership quality past the Pools keeper.

Then came another of those decisions from the poor referee that defied belief.  Bo was in the middle of the park harmlessly watching play when a thug in Blue stripes clearly elbowed him in the face.  Bo dropped to the floor in agony and that crap ref didn't even go and talk to his assistant about it.  Then again the lino would have bottled it and made some pathetic excuse for not seeing it.

For the rest of the half the traffic was continually one way in our favour.  It was amazing that we didn't go into the break four goals to the good.  First Sean Flynn went close with a volley of such force he could've broken someone's leg with the ball then Bo missed a chance when he fired straight at the keeper's legs.


HT. 2 - 0

I was saying to a fellow fan at halftime that the only way Hartlepool would get anything from this game would be to shackle the dangerous Bishop and if Harriers MK 2 came out in place of the Harriers MK 1 we saw in the first half.  Uncanny.

This half was no where near as good as the first with both sides now more evenly matched.  Hartlepool had effectively snuffed out the Bo and Bish threat and were now looking likely to get something from the game.

That something came on 63 minutes when the unmarked Darrel Clarke steered in a volley at the far post to bring them back in with a chance.  Two minutes later it could have been the equaliser but Brock pulled off an excellent save from Tinklers shot.

In answer to that Brit took off Bo Henriksen and bought on Scott Stamps in an effort to shore up the defence but Hartlepool continued to pursue their search for a second goal as both Kevin Henderson and Mark Tinkler forced good saves from Stuart Brock.

Andy Bishop With time running out Brit then bought on Drewe Broughton in place of Andy Bishop.  To be honest I couldn't see what was to be gained from this move and so it was to be proved as Drewe hardly touched the ball until near the end when his weak header was easily saved in a one on one with the keeper.

With the noise from the crowd rising, at last, the four minutes added on by the ref had come to an end and we were well into the fifth minute when, from a breakaway, Hartlepool scored.  Eifion Williams, who had come on for the ageing Gordon Watson earlier, pounced on an error from the normally dependable Dion Scott and Williams ran between him and Brockie to fire the ball into the back of the net.

The previously noisy clapping was silenced in dis-belief.  It was hard to imagine that we had once been two goals up and cruising.


FT. 2 - 2

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

I wish he didn't play like that because at this rate Walsall will want him back so they can sell him on to a Premiership side.


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man of the match now

Harriers  subs   cards      Hartlepool  subs   cards 
Brock     A Williams  
Scott     Lee
Hinton     Arnison  
D Williams     Robinson  
Flynn     Westwood  
A Smith   Tinkler
Bennett     P Smith  
Melligan     Clarke  
Bishop     Watson  
Henriksen   Humphreys  
Shilton     Henderson  
SUBS:       SUBS:    
Digby     Provett  
Stamps     E Williams  
McAuley     Bass  
Broughton     Richardson  
Parrish     Boyd  

REFEREE:
Mr C Boyeson
Yorkshire

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