Solihull Moors 1 Harriers 1
The Harriers first team competed in their first friendly this evening with a 1-1 draw at Solihull Moors. The Harriers also played at Littleton on the Saturday just gone, where they lost 2-0, but that was a team made up of youth team players and a smattering of triallists. Of those triallists Jamie Ashmore, Peter Smith, David Kalonji, Jake Green and Reece Hales all took part tonight as did the former Harrier David McDermott.
It was another former Harrier that opened the scoring for the hosts when Darryl Knights pounced on a defensive mix up to slot the ball home beyond his former team mate Jas Singh. We could have pulled the goal back almost immediately when Nathan Blissett nodded down for Callum Gittings to strike a fine volley but it was well saved by the Moors keeper, Chamberlain.
Blissett played in Reece Styche a few minutes later but his close range shot was blocked by the keeper. Bliss was in the action again when Ahmed Obeng used his pace to fly down the wing and cross in for the big striker to fire in but see his shot deflected away.
Soon after, following a shower of rain, Obeng went off injured after slipping over.
HT: Solihull Moors 1 Harriers 0
With an almost complete change of line-up for the second period, only Chey Dunkley remained, it was up to the Harriers to get the goal back but it took its time coming. With just over a hour gone Craig Reid slotted the ball beyond the keeper after drawing him off his line.
Then game went quiet once more with just a few more changes to the line-up. Josh Gowling came on for Dunkley while McDermott and Ladapo came on for Aman Verma and David Kalonji.
It was Gowling that came to the Harriers rescue when Danny Lewis dropped the ball under pressure but luckily for him Josh was well placed to block the incomimg shot after a Moors man pounced on Dannys mistake. A late chance for Reid was the final chance of the game for either side and it ended all square.
Harriers:
Singh (Lewis), Smith (Grimes), Green (Ashmore), Dunkley (Gowling), Williams (Kalonji) (Ladapo), Obeng (Johnson), Byrne (Storer), O'Keefe (Verma) (McDermott), Gittings (Hales), Blissett (Gash), Styche (Reid).
Solihull Moors:
Chamberlain, Rosser, Ballinger, Denny, Daly, Langdon, Fleet, English, Byfield, Knights, Story.
Subs:
Cleary, Acton, Hayden, Elvins, French, Nesbitt, Brown, Taylor, Ellis, McKenzie, Cooper.
Att: 180