The Harriers opened the prelude to the new season with a 3-0 win at Bishops Cleeve, a village situated between Evesham and Cheltenham, with three second half goals from three new faces to the team. The goals followed a scoreless first half that saw both Nick Wright and Luke Medley miss a penalty apiece.
The first half team was a mixture of players from last season with just Dean Lyness, Scott Phelan and Luke Medley being the new boys. There was no sign of the supposed new signing Kyle Storer.
It took twelve minutes for the first sign of action and that came in the form of a trip on Lee Vaughan in the area but Nick Wright sent the resultant penalty straight at the keeper. We were well on top now and continued to press on the Cleeve goal with that pressure theoretically paying off on the stroke of half time.
Luke Medley advanced on goal looking to make his mark on the game but instead found himself being tripped in the area. The former Mansfield man got up and prepared to take the spot kick but he too then sent it to one side of the keeper but not enough to prevent him getting a hand to it and stopping the opening goal.HT: Bishops Cleeve 0 Harriers 0
1st half team:
Lyness, Vaughan, Briscoe, Sharpe, Williams, Wright, Phelan, Byrne, Thompson-Brown, Matt, Medley.
The second period was obviously more fruitful than the first because we scored. Steve Guinan, ex Cheltenham and Hereford, was the first on the scoresheet when he easily lobbed the keeper. He almost added another seconds later but this time he could only strike the bar with a fine drive from a sharp angle.
James Vincent was next to notch a goal with a good strike from the edge of the area that the keeper got some fingers to but not enough. The scoring finished when triallist Greg Mills (right), ex Derby County and AFC Telford, sent a powerful shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Dave Hankin could have rounded the game off with a fourth goal but the woodwork got in the way again and we had to be happy with just the trio of strikes.
FT: Bishops Cleeve 0 Harriers 3
2nd half team:
Lewis, Sharpe, Jones, Marshall, Mike Williams, Hankin, Gittings, Vincent, Mills, Marc Williams, Guinan.
Photo © AFC Telford
