Harriers back down to earth

On the back of that great win over Exeter City on Saturday we were expected to travel up to the edge of beyond, somewhere near Leeds, and come rolling back to Worcestershire with all three points tucked into our belts.    This was expected to be another good win for the Harriers but as usual it was a case of after the Lord Mayors Show yet again for us.

We just knew it wasn't going to go smoothly with the pre-match news that Stuart Whitehead had turned his ankle in training yesterday and wouldn't be playing.    Dean Bennett stepped in to cover but when we went down to the Farsley goal after just two minutes it was confirmation that it wasn't going to plan.

Luckily we managed to survive the one way traffic towards Scott Bevan's goal during the first half when we didn't get a single shot on target.    We improved slightly for the second half but only enough for Russ Penn to grab a face saving goal, his third goal in three games.

Their goal came from the Pakistan U19 player Amjad Iqbal when he got his head to the ball first as our defence stood watching.    They continued to pepper our goal with shots coming in from Tris Whitman and Ashley Allanson but couldn't add to the scoreline

HT: 1 - 0

In previous weeks we have usually come out for the second half a bit more fired up but tonight that just wasn't the case.    Celtic were to make the running again and they had a shot from Simeon Bambrook that went close within thirty seconds of the re-start.

It took until the fiftieth minute for the Reds to get their first shot on target when Dean Bennett drilled the ball through the penalty area but it was easily caught by Mark Wilberforce in goal for the home side.

Mark Yates had seen enough by then and bought on Iyseden Christie soon after with Jonny Harkness going off.    Within seconds of coming on Christie almost won a penalty when he was upended just outside the area.    Ideal territory for a Harkness free kick except that he'd just been taken off and the free kick didn't yield anything.

We had now started to look a bit brighter but without taking the chances being offered to us.    The nearest we came was a Russ Penn effort that hit the post but he came much closer soon after.

Twenty minutes from the end and we had pulled the goal back.    Jeff Kenna had sent over a trademark long throw in that Russ was able to get a foot to and send it past the keeper into the top of the net from six yards out.

We couldn't strike while the iron was hot and Farsley came back into the game again with another shot from Bambrook that went just wide of Bevan's upright.

Time was now running down and as injury time neared Justin Richards went down injured after a strong challenge from Andy Watson.    Watson got booked and Brian Smikle came on for the big striker.

The final whistle blew not long after and the game ended up points shared.    A fair result I suppose but I think we really expected more.

York City visit Aggborough next and we'll be hoping for a better result against a side that aren't doing too well so far this season.

FT: 1 - 1

 Goal for Farsley: Iqbal 2
 Goal for Harriers: Penn 70