Harriers fail to take their chances

After a good win at the weekend down at Woking, Harriers travelled to North Wales hoping for another three points on the road.  Manager Gary Whild elected to name an unchanged starting XI, with Jamie Grimes, who was mooted to be fit, not making the squad.

Our hosts, Wrexham, now under the guidance of Kevin Wilkin, also named an unchanged side following their 3-0 victory over Eastleigh.  Former Harrier Dean Keates started in midfield, Louis Moult and Connor Jennings led the line and former Hednesford winger Elliot Durrell also started.  It was a relatively decent evening for football, albeit interspersed with some showers and in front of 3149 fans, 160 of whom were Harriers, referee Adrian Holmes got the game underway.

To say the first half was a bit of a non-event is to be rather kind, actually.  Neither side really created anything to worry Messrs Danny Bachmann and Danny Lewis in goal, with half chances being the order of the day.  The first fell to Mark Carrington but his effort was comfortable for the Harriers keeper.  In fact, the main talking point of the first half involved two combustible elements in Louis Moult and our very own Kyle Storer, with the latter being the victim of a Cantona-esque kick to the head as the pair contested a 50-50.

Now this wasn't a case of Storer lowering his head too much, rather the foot was a mile high but referee Holmes opted to award only a free kick and not even a yellow card, much to the angst of the travelling support.  Reece Styche later found himself on the end of a move that would have been at home in the WWE, but again no cards were brandished.

Kicks to the head, being wrestled to the ground... perhaps Vince McMahon himself was on a talent scouting mission for the WWE? Half time arrived at 0-0 and we all hoped the game would pick up a bit.

Harriers had the first clear chance of the second half as Gash, Byrne and Johnson led a counter attack, Jack Byrne and Marvin Johnson combined but the latter's effort was dealt with fairly comfortably by Bachmann in the Wrexham goal.

The hosts first real attack of the second half came on the hour and a golden chance it was too.  Bachmann's punt downfield was left by Josh Gowling for his keeper, who appeared to be fouled by Jennings.  Referee Holmes signalled no foul and Louis Moult fired over an open goal from twelve yards and in all honesty, it should have been 1-0 there and then.  Justice perhaps, for the foul on the keeper.

As the game rolled on it began to get more and more feisty.  Marvin Johnson was hacked down out wide, with the Harriers man in some pain, but again, the referee seemed unwilling to brandish a card for the home side, reserving those 'honours' for the visitors.  Consistency is the key and may I respectfully suggest that Mr Holmes finds some before his next assignment?

Following this, unsurprisingly, Johnson was the subject of boos and vitriol from the home support, however this seemed to drive him on as the pendulum of momentum seemed to be swinging Harriers way.  The visitors continued to push forward and sub Craig Reid, who had moments earlier replaced Reece Styche, won a corner which was swung towards the back post but Chey Dunkley's pull back narrowly evaded the head of Gash.  Agonising.

As the eightieth minute came and went, wave after wave of Harriers attacks were repelled by the home side thanks to a couple of smart saves from Bachmann.  Then heartbreak.

Elliot Durrell, who had been very quiet, saw his deflected effort beat Danny Lewis in what seemed like a slow motion action.  The ball came in from deep and whilst the cross wasn't world class by any means, the ball wasn't cleared allowing Louis Moult to lay it into Durrell's path who will claim the goal.

He was then voted the home side's man of the match and replaced by Jonny Hunt.  It was harsh on the Harriers but the boys in yellow gave it all they had and straight from kick off they very nearly came up with the perfect riposte, but Aman Verma's eighteen yard volley narrowly went over the bar.

Predictably, the last action of the game came from Harriers as Johnson collected Gash's sublime crossfield ball and cut inside, but again, the finish was just lacking as he slid it wide.

All in all Harriers can consider themselves hard done by and the general consensus among last night's hosts is that we deserved a point.  The fact of the matter is that we have slipped to an away defeat and our away form will continue to concern some quarters.  With some important games upcoming, it is vital that Harriers bounce back and they have the perfect opportunity to do so against basement boys AFC Telford, but it won't be easy.

 Goal for Wrexham: Durrell 84

REFEREE:

Mr A Holmes W Yorkshire