Harriers fire a blank against the Shots

The Harriers versus Aldershot game played out tonight in front of the TV cameras was the first drawn game for us since we played Woking at home back in March.  That game ended 2-2 but this one tonight was goalless and you have to go back to a smidgen over a year ago for one of those.  That blank scoreline came at home to Grimsby.

With a lower than expected crowd waiting on expectedly the game kicked off at a frantic pace for both sides.  We were going with the same team that had started against Halifax three days ago but on the bench was Kyle Storer back from injury.  Dior Angus was also there with James Dance and Jack Byrne dropping out.

For Aldershot they had Manchester Utds' Ashley Youngs brother, Lewis, starting for them and in goal was Nick Pope, on loan from Charlton.

In the crowd watching from the stands was Barry Fry.  I didn't get to see the size of his wallet but no doubt Peterborough will make an offer for any one, or two, of the players out there tonight.

As to the game itself it wasn't the best in terms of shots on goal but it was decent end to end stuff with defences on both sides coming out on top.  Both teams were closing down any form of attack and shots on goal were few and far between.

It was Aldershot who were to get the closest to scoring in the opening minutes when Martin Rowland struck a free kick wide of Nathan Vaughans goal.  We responded some ten minutes later with a poor attempt from Michael Gash that went well over Popes crossbar due to the normally lethal striker leaning back too far and not getting behind the ball properly.

Gash was having better luck as a provider when his cross from out wide was aimed at the head of Anthony Malbon but Malbon sent the ball wide.  Lee Vaughan then tried his luck with a fierce shot that whizzed across the face of the goal but that too went out wide.

Our overall play was deserving of some kind of reward and that could have come just a minute before the end of the first half when Lee Vaughan was sent crashing in the area by Jordan Roberts.  The referee, Lee Swabey, waved all demands for a penalty away.

The second period was more or less a repeat of the first with both sides passing the ball around well but with no end product.  Malbon found himself in rare space for once but his shot was good but not quite on target and ended up in the side netting.

Lee Vaughan had another try at goal (he seemed to be our best attacking option) and this one was on target but the keeper saved well.  With us getting nowhere Steve Burr rang the changes and made some changes.  Off went Joe Lolley and Danny Jackman and on came Amari Morgan-Smith and Kyle Storer.

The change didn't really work because we were still failing in our attempts to get anywhere near the goal although we did gain an increase in urgency.  Another change was made and on came Marvin Johnson with, somewhat surprisingly, Lee Fowler going off for him.  Fowler had been having a good game and the danger was that we would lose his craft in midfield.

We did.  We bypassed it and went for the jugular but again it was a case of no direct chances to get a shot on target.  Just half chances scrambled towards the goal.

The nearest we came was when Malbon again found himself in the clear but his shot was weak and ineffective.  Our final chance came right at the death when Jamie Grimes almost forced the ball over the line from a corner and then a shout went up fro a penalty as the ball hit a Shots players hand but the referee waved it away.

It wasn't a bad game.  Plenty of end to end entertainment but without that touch of class needed or the freedom of space in front of a packed goalmouth.  It was just destined to be a draw.

REFEREE:

Mr L Swabey Plymouth