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Crawley Town 2 Harriers 0

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Date: 02-10-10gif Venue: Broadfield Stadiumgif att: 1483gif away fans: 109
Harriers fall to late goals

gif Report by Morgan Nock
Kidderminster Harriers slipped to a second consecutive 2-0 defeat away from home, this time at the hands of big-spending Crawley Town.  Goals from Scott Neilson and Craig McAllister were enough for the less famous 'Red Devils' to defeat Kidderminster who have now lost their second game in a week.

Steve Burr handed a first Harriers start to Matty Blair but the rest of the side remained otherwise unchanged.  That came as a disapointment to many Harriers fans who had been expecting a few more than one change to be made following the defeat at Bath City last Tuesday.

For Crawley their £300,000 man Richard Brodie was sat firmly on the substitutes bench.

A lively start from the Harriers gave the impression that perhaps an upset was on the cards with good work from Matty Blair and Chris McPhee.  It was McPhee who created the first clear-cut chance of the match - making inroads down the right he delivered a bullet cross for Lee Morris, whose shot was blocked by Kyle McFadzean.

Crawley earned a corner after 20 minutes and should have taken the lead but Sergio Torres failed to control the ball and his shot trickled through to Danny Lewis.  The home side had another good opportunity from their next corner but Ben Smith's header was comfortably saved by Lewis.

With just moments to go until half time Jack Byrne slid a perfectly weighted ball through for Lee Morris who chased the ball and bore down on goal.  After perhaps one touch too many Morris was bundled over by Pablo Mills.  Mills was booked and Harriers had a free kick right on the edge of the box (though the referee had other ideas and instead of moving the wall away from the ball, got Keith Briggs to move the ball away from the wall!).

Unfortunately for Kidderminster the free kick was wasted and the yellow card was now seen as a successful sacrifice for Crawley as Morris had looked likely to get his first Harriers goal.
  HT: 0 - 0
After a promising first half the Harriers were surely looking to build upon the foundations laid and try to win what was still anyone's game.  Steve Burr showed some ambition by introducing Marc Williams in place of Lee Morris and then Nick Wright for Matty Blair.

The home side should have taken the lead on 54 minutes through some excellent work by Scott Neilson.  He rounded Mike Williams and Ollie Thorne but as he strode towards goal coming in from the right, the assistant referee wrongly flagged that the ball had gone out for a goal kick when in reality the ball had hardly hung over the line, rather than the whole of the ball crossing the whole of the line.

After sustained pressure Crawley finally opened the scoring after 68 minutes.  Following a long throw which was headed away by Ollie Thorne it was dangerman Neilson who found plenty of time and space 25 yards out to power in a superb dipping shot.

Just eight minutes later it was 2-0 and the game was effectively over.  Matt Tubbs worked well and over-powered - more like strolled easily past - the Harriers defence to square for Craig McAllister to tuck an easy finish into the corner.

It was after this second goal for his side that the Crawley manager, Steve Evans, found himself banished to the stands once again.  He was seen to run to the Harriers bench celebrating then suddenly fall to the floor claiming that he had been pushed over.  The ref was obviously no idiot prepared have the wool pulled over his eyes by a clown like Evans and gave him his first red 'un of the season.  It won't be the last.

With ten minutes left Steve Burr put Tom Shaw on in place of Callum Gittings and Shaw's introduction, as on Tuesday, suggested possible damage limitation... or maybe we were hoping for a penalty!  It was Shaw, from a free kick, who saw us have our only direct shot on target in the entire game and also the only save their keeper needed to make.

In the same break in play Crawley brought on a combined £360,000 strike pairing of Ben Wright and Richard Brodie in place of Tubbs and McAllister and sent them going in search of more goals against a tiring defence.

Fortunately there were no more goals leaving a scoreline which fairly reflected the match.  Harriers now have an important game to bounce back on Tuesday at home to Gateshead.
  FT: 2 - 0

 Goals for Crawley: Neilson 68, McAllister 76


The Harriers Online MotM is:

gif Michael Briscoe
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Latest table and stats here  

Crawley Town  subs   cards      Harriers  subs   cards 
Kuipers     Lewis  
Wilson     Vaughan  
Rents     Mike Williiams  
Mills gif   Briscoe
McFadzean   Thorne  
Bulman     Byrne  
Smith     Blair gif  
Torres     Briggs  
Tubbs gif     Morris gif  
Neilson     McPhee  
McAllister gif     Gittings gif  
SUBS:       SUBS:    
Jordan     Stevens  
Hall gif     Marc Williams gif  
Brodie gif     Albrighton  
Masterton     N Wright gif  
B Wright gif     Shaw gif  

REFEREE:
Mr R Whitton
Essex





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