Bromyard Town 0 Harriers 14    Report by Morgan Nock

An unfamiliar Harriers side lined up at Delahay Meadow on a breezy summers evening in Herefordshire for their first friendly of the coming season.  Right from the off the Harriers dominated and a goal from right midfield triallist Kyle Hadley opened the scoring.  He was helped on the right hand side by Duane Courtney, and the former Burnley man set up Aaron Farrell and Matt Barnes-Homer for headers.

Mason continued to shine, scoring again and getting a couple of assists, with Brian Smikle also getting two goals.  Dean Coleman was forced into one save in the whole half which only arose after his poor stop gave away a corner.

Youth product Nathan Hayward showed a few decent touches and he could prove to be a decent squad player for us this season.  The former Coventry star and Scotland international, Gavin Strachan, made a first half appearance for Harriers, delivering some decent corners and putting in tough challenges.

First half side:
Dean Coleman, Duane Courtney, Gavin Caines, Martin Riley, Lee Baker, Kyle Hadley, Gavin Strachan, Nathan Hayward, Brian Smikle, Matthew Barnes-Homer, Aaron Farrell.


The whole team was changed for the second half, and immediately David McDermott and Dean Bennett took control.  McDermott ran riot on the left and scored a shot from the edge of the box before Bennett smashed home a laid off free kick straight into the top corner of Bromyard's net.

McDermott then went on to score a brilliant Paul Gascoine-esque volley after flicking the ball over the Bromyard centre-half on the edge of the six yard box.  Benno scored another shot after an explosive run through the poorly organised Bromyard back line, and Darryl Knights followed up with a similar strike after some decent link up play with Chris McPhee and Liam Dolman.  Dolman then made a great run down the left and scored an impressive strike into the top of the net past a flailing, and fed up Bromyard keeper.

Chris McPhee was disappointing, he got into a one on one with the keeper three times and failed to score.  The third time however, he was hacked down from behind by Bromyard's full back and last man, earning Harriers a penalty, which McPhee duly converted.

The youth team keeper, Rob Holmes, was forced into making only one easy save in his half and he organised the defence well and showed some decent distribution.

To round off an impressive display against an amateur opposition who provided no lack of effort, but a severe lack of footballing ability, we produced some quality build up play involving Dean Bennett and David McDermott to supply the cross for Zac Costello to convert an accurate header to end the day in smiles.

Second half side:
Dean Coleman (Rob Holmes 59), Liam Dolman, Myles Jones, Jordan Street, Zac Costello, Damien Jarrett, Dean Bennett, David McDermott, Darryl Knights, Chris McPhee, Nick Ingram.

Goals from:
Mason (2)
Bennett (2)
Smikle (2)
McDermott (2)
Knights
Costello
McPhee (pen)
Dolman
Farrell
Barnes-Homer