The Harriers went through to the next round of the FA Trophy at Ilkeston tonight but not without a few scares on the way. Defences were not at the best for either side and after taking a 2-0 lead with two goals in two minutes from Justin Richards and Brian Smikle the rest of the night became a 'we score, you score' type of game.
Martin Riley made it to the starting eleven despite his groin injury following the Coventry game but there was another surprise with Matt Barnes-Homer rested to the bench and Stefan Moore making an overdue start. For the hosts the former Harrier, Lee Thompson, was on the bench.
Ilkeston started the stronger on a very spongy pitch but it wasn't long before the Harrier had their first chance on goal when Russ Penn forced a save out of Chris Adamson following a corner. A few minutes later Justin did just that when he turned defender David Haggerty and then chipped the ball over the keeper.
Two minutes later and we took what should have been a commanding lead when Brian Smikle added a second goal following an exchange of passes between himself and Richards to send the ball into the roof of the net from just outside the area.
The lead was soon narrowed though when seven minutes later Tom Cahill ran between our hesitant defenders onto Sam Duncum's cross and put the ball past Adam Bartlett.
The goal seemed to wake the Reds up once more and we started to take more control over the game with Martin Brittain finding more space than he has in recent weeks and putting some fine crosses over. From one Keith Lowe came close to scoring but was just about beaten to the ball by a Town defender.
Moore and Richards were both starting to build up an understanding between each other and they both came close to scoring after supplying each other with crucial passes. Richards shot was only just off target and Moore's was easily saved by the keeper. Mark Creighton also got in on the act too with a header that went just past the post as half time approached.
The half ended with the Harriers just about in front but the hosts weren't letting us have it all our own way and were determined to make a game of it.
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