Harriers grab their first home win

Callum Gittings again weaved his magic for Kidderminster Harriers as they overcame Hayes & Yeading at Aggborough for their first home win of the campaign at the fourth attempt.  The Harriers line-up from the away win at Moss Lane a week ago saw Tom Shaw and Lee Morris dropped from the side in favour of Gittings and Dave Hankin, with Chris McPhee and Nick Wright upfront.

Hayes & Yeading, after an inconsistent start to the season, handed a debut to Romanian striker Adrian Patulea who had joined them this week from Leyton Orient on loan.

The Harriers were the first of the two sides to carve a clear cut chance in the form of a Nick Wright shot in the fourth minute after he received the ball and took it round the goalkeeper but, with the ball taking a bobble, he wasn't able to get the connection he needed and the chance was wasted as it went over the bar.  He made amends for the miss ten minutes later though with a well worked goal after Gittings controlled the ball following a throw from the left hand side.  The former Alvechurch man came down the byeline towards goal and played a slick ball back to Nick Wright who hit a placed shot across the face of the goalkeeper into the bottom right hand corner of the goal to give Harriers the lead.

Yet, you always knew that we wouldn't keep a clean sheet – the amount of lingering just that little bit too long on the ball in our own half gave that impression - and Hayes & Yeading got the equaliser with the debut man netting the goal.  Patulea getting the ball on the left hand side of the pitch, outside of the area, and advanced forward barely even needing to hold off the weak challenge of Michael Briscoe as he advanced and then hammered a shot past Danny Lewis giving him no chance from around six yards out.

If we want to do anything this season we've got to stop these silly goals being conceded and stop the inane backing off, although credit has to be given to Patulea for the finish.

After the equaliser hardly a chance was created by either side – one break of importance from a Harriers point of view following a Hayes corner.  The ball was played to Wright who sprinted up the left side of the pitch only to arrive outside the area in need of support and not find any! This is the problem you have when you have a midfielder, Chris McPhee, playing in a forward position.

Moments after the second half kicked off Hayes were down to ten men and Harriers had lost a man to injury.  Jack Byrne was tackled badly and went down but the referee didn't stop play for a good minute although the midfielder was clearly in pain and in need of attention.  The man in the middle didn't seem to care and let play continue until Michael Malcolm had a shot and then he eventually decided to stop play.

The St. Johns Ambulance men rushed on with the stretcher (not for the only time in the game) as attention suddenly turned to another incident featuring the goalscorer Patulea as he appeared to kick Ollie Thorne as the latter was on the floor.  The referee called Patulea over and sent him off with, after an age, Byrne being stretchered off.

The game restarted and within minutes we could've seen the Harriers back in the lead.  Wright ran into the area after taking the ball past Adam Bygrave and got to the six yard box with the ball on his weaker foot but stuttered instead of shooting, cut the ball back to Hankin who was running in, and, from the moment the ball sat up nicely for him to shoot you could tell what was going to happen next as he ballooned his shot over the bar.

He was later taken off and by his posture and the cat-calls from some sections of the North Stand his confidence must be at an all time low.  This is a huge comparison with Matty Blair who, in the last two games when he has come on, has helped change the game and around ten minutes after his introduction we scored our second and took a lead we didn't relinquish.

A ball over the top down the right flank saw Marc Williams, on for the injured Byrne, sprinting onto it and as the ball was about to cross the byeline he managed to get in a superb cross which Gittings won and headed it back to McPhee who couldn't miss and didn't as he smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner from six yards out for his second goal this season – his first from open play.

By now the momentum was fully in 'The Harriers' favour although they had little to show for it apart from a smattering of corners hit too deep by Gittings, much like those taken by Hankin in the past.

The only thing Hayes & Yeading could do to break up our play was to make substitutions which seemed to work, because, as the ninety minutes drew ever closer we seemed to be running out of steam.  However the drama wasn't over yet as Briscoe went down, this time with an ankle injury, and the Harriers were forced into their final substitution which saw the introduction of Mark Albrighton and five minutes of added time introduced.

Amazingly as the announcement was made that Callum Gittings had won Man of the Match he buried the ball into the back of the net from outside the area and making the most of the goalkeepers poor positioning by getting his third of the season and handing Harriers a deserved win.

So finally the Harriers won a game that on paper they should've.  Whilst we're still in search of that elusive first clean sheet I can't see us getting one against Cambridge in a week's time so let's hope our attack keeps scoring.

 Goals for Harriers: Wright 15, McPhee 72, Gittings 90
 Goal for Hayes: Patulea 28

REFEREE:

Mr M McLaughlin Bedfordshire