Venue:
Aggborough
att:  3393  away fans:  946
Extra info
Harriers
0
 
After the euphoria of Northampton it's back to ground with a crash.
What's the answer?
Doncaster
2
Blundell 16
Brown 60
 harriers-online match report
Saturday 25th October 2003 
HOME
Harriers a pale shadow


The Harriers were a pale shadow of the side that came away with all the points from Northampton in midweek.  Then they played with verve and imagination, today it was with lethargy and dull thinking.

On Tuesday we closed Northampton down continually with close marking but at the same time played attractive passing football on the break.  Today we were back to our old tricks of standing off and being lazy in our passing.

The fans don't expect to see barnstorming performances week in week out but this was our first home game since Big Jan came back and he must have been as disappointed as us watching that today.

We started with basically the same line-up again with the exception of Shilton replacing Sean Parrish.  Again John Williams was playing up front by himself and JJ tucked in behind making best use of all the free space.  Pity there was none!

I know we are a bit short of forwards at the moment but I would have expected Matt Lewis to start the game along side the second class postman.  We were at home after all.

After a bright start from both sides it was The Harriers who were the first to come close to opening the scoring but John Williams took too long over his strike and the chance was wasted.  Seconds later and he was signalling to the bench that he wanted to come off.  He was replaced by Matt Lewis on nine minutes.

Soon after Kenny Coleman collected the ball on the right and made his way towards the touchline, he hit a cross that flew towards the far post but Sam Shilton only just failed to connect.

It was a mistake by Lewis that led to the opening goal for Rovers.

Without being under any real pressure he passed the ball back to Wayne Hatswell.  He had nodded off and didn't see the Doncaster forward sneaking up on his blind side.  It was an easy matter for Blundell to take the ball on and slip it past the stranded Brock.

After a short period of possession we started to deteriorate.  Our passing was all over the place and it was only JJ Melligan who was looking likely to get a pass on target.

It was from a JJ cross that the Rovers keeper, Warrington, was called into action for the only time during the first half when Graham Ward forced him to leap backwards and put his 25yd drive over the bar for a corner.


HT. 0 - 1

After half time it was more of the same, there had obviously not been a stern conversation in the dressing room because Donny started to take complete control of the game.

Doncaster were the first to threaten with a goal and they came very close to increasing their score when Green saw his fierce shot deflected and Stuart Brock make a superb save to deny him the goal.

After only ten minutes of this dire fare Jan decided to make some changes and threw on our last two subs.  Coleman and Ward making way for Sean Parrish and new loan signing Steve Burton.  Parrish pushed up front along side Lewis but it was hard to see any improvement.

There was should have been someone to get on the end of the crosses now but we still couldn't manage it.

A minute later and it was all over as a contest.  Gregg Blundell was again the danger man for Donny and his low cross looked dangerous from our end and so it proved when Brown managed to put a deflection on it and flicked it past Brockie for their second goal.

The equally impressive McIndoe almost added to the scoreline seconds later but we managed to deflect the ball out for a fruitless corner.

With time running out we were awarded a free kick outside the area.  Blundell felt the urge to kick the ball away and was carded for the offence and extra punishment was meted out when the referee, Cable, moved the ball on ten feet.

The ball was now in Danny's territory and as the wall lined up Parrish joined it.  He created a space for Danny to shoot through but for some unfathomable reason Danny blasted the ball high and wide.

We spent the final ten minutes of the game passing the ball back to Brock.  How that can achieve a goal I'll never know.

With what looks like only one fit striker at the moment we are in desperate need of at least two more.  Williams and Bo are injured and Lewis is not up to the job.

Please Jan.  Not Duane Darby or Steve Watts!!


FT. 0 - 2

The Harriers-Online
Man of the Match is : 
JJ Melligan

His prompting from midfield was wasted on his team mates who didn't really look up for this game.

Best for them:  Gregg Blundell.  In reality they all deserved the win because they worked for each other.

vote for your
man of the match now

Harriers  subs   cards      Doncaster  subs   cards 
Brock     Warrington  
Coleman     Beech  
A Smith     Albrighton  
D Williams     Price  
Hinton     Foster
Hatswell     O'Brien  
Bennett     McIndoe  
Melligan     Green  
J Williams     Doolan
Ward     Blundell
Shilton     Brown  
SUBS:       SUBS:    
Danby     Richardson  
Burton     Morley  
Lewis     Fortune-West  
Gadsby     Ravenhill  
Parrish     McGrath  

REFEREE:
Mr L Cable
Surrey

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