Magic Lolley cheers up Harriers fans

In a turbulent week for the club, the match against Salisbury City, with ex-Harriers Chris Mcphee and Glenn Wilson in their line-up, represented a new era for Kidderminster Harriers.  With Steve Burr sacked, Andy Thorn took charge of his first match as manager, but stuck with the team that had done so well against Peterborough in Burr's last match.

A subdued Aggborough atmosphere was echoed in the performance early on with very little to comment upon in a drab first half.  The first thirty minutes of the game saw both teams playing some nice football in midfield at times, but chances were limited, with Salisbury only having a few long shots which narrowly missed the target.  Harriers' first effort of note also provided their first goal.

After eighteen minutes a moment of class from Joe Lolley - something which has become a regular occurrence - opened the scoring.  He received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and slotted home with what has now become a trademark shimmy and left foot strike.

The first half gave early promise that Thorns Harriers would continue to play the attractive football they often employed under Burr, with emphasis placed on playing along the floor, even in spite of a playing surface affected by recent bad weather.  To their credit Salisbury often matched the quality of Kidderminsters play, doing everything right but failing to create enough clear-cut chances to really threaten.  Indeed, perhaps the biggest threat to Danny Lewis' goal came from a misplaced Mickey Demetriou back header which caused some confusion as it sailed narrowly over the bar.

Late on in the first half Salisbury's Stuart Sinclair, brother of Robbie who came on later as a sub, received the ball inside the Harriers area and had a golden opportunity to equalise, but squandered the chance as his shot was blocked by the excellent Josh Gowling.  Some great link up play between Lolley and Danny Jackman provided the latter with an opportunity to score the goal of the season but the left backs shot blazed over the bar and the Harriers took a slim lead into half time, although perhaps not in the most inspiring of fashions.

Thorn's first half time team talk appeared to be a successful one as in the second half Harriers grew into the game more and improved as time went on.  The early stages of the half still lacked major chances though and the match became rather scrappy for a short while with much of the play coming from set pieces.  Another surging Joe Lolley run and shot worried Salisbury but they themselves had another chance to equalise after a free kick was floated into the box, however the following effort missed the target.

From there the Joe Lolley show went to the next level.  A Lee Fowler pass set the youngster off on another impact run and a battle with Salisbury defender, James Clarke, saw him taken down inside the penalty area to receive a slightly dubious penalty decision.  Up stepped the man himself sending the 'keeper the wrong way and slotting home his, and the Harriers, second goal of the day.

A chance to make it three-nil was missed after Lee Vaughan put an excellent cross across the face of the Salisbury goal, Michael Gash failing to stretch enough to get any meaningful touch on the ball, which went wide after clipping his toes.

Marvin Johnson was the first substitute of the Andy Thorn era and, after having a difficult time towards the end of Steve Burr's reign, the winger managed to make a contribution during his short cameo.  If there was any doubt in the first penalty decision there was none in the second as Johnson dribbled into the penalty area and had his legs taken away from him.  Again Joe Lolley stepped up to take the kick and again he scored, completing his hat trick and an excellent performance in what could prove to be his last Aggborough outing with transfer speculation hotting up.

Harriers saw out the rest of the game after this, keeping a first league clean sheet for a long while and giving the new manager his first win.  It was not always the greatest of performances but they did the business and can take confidence into their FA Cup replay on Tuesday.

My man of the Match will be Joe Lolley, a pleasure to watch as always.  Destined for bigger things.

 Goals for Harriers: Lolley 18, 75 (pen), 86 (pen)

REFEREE:

Mr A Backhouse Cumbria