Harriers grab a point at Halifax

The season for the Harriers looks more rosier today after this draw at Halifax under the new regime of head gardener Flowers and hopefully after our game at home to Torquay Utd on Tuesday we'll start to blossom into the team that we should be.  Another goal from Gurjit Singh early on gave us hope that we could be heading for our first win of the season but a failure to kick on from that and ensure the points with a second goal came to nothing when the home side pulled a goal back in then second half.  We then had to withstand a barrage as they looked to win the game but somehow we managed to hold out until the end.

With the deposed manager, Gary Whild, stood alongside him Tim Flowers didn't have much choice with the team selection after losing Jordan Tunnicliffe with a hamstring pull overnight and Luke Maxwell out for three games due to suspension.  He did have the bonus of the long awaited return of Kelvin Langmead to the side following injury and the availability of Calvin Dinsley to start his first game in place of Maxwell.  Replacing the temporarily departed Adam Dawson we had Tahvon Campbell ready made to step into his shoes but the bench was looking sparse with what's left of the available squad sitting on it.

The game between the two sides at the very bottom of the table was always going to be a tense affair but it was Halifax looking the more nervous of the two.  The Harriers made the most of the running early on and we could have taken an early lead through either of the chances that Reece Styche and Campbell had with the latter just failing to connect with a Styche cross and then the well placed supplier putting his shot wide minutes later.

The goal came soon after though and this time there was no mistake as Aman Verma's pin point cross was met by the head of Singh who sent the ball soaring into the roof of the net.  Verma himself had a goal struck off soon after when he put away a header from Langmead but the referee ruled it out for a push on a Halifax player by Langmead.  Campbell had a chance to score too but his shot, after evading the tackles of Halifax defenders, went wide of the upright.

Slowly the hosts came back into the game and had a shout for a penalty turned down after CJ Hamilton was deemed by the referee to have made too much of a slight contact by Langmead as he won the ball cleanly from the striker.  They should have scored when a cross from Kevin Roberts evaded a ruck of Fax players queuing up in the box to tap it home and then Hamza Bencherif missed an even easier gifted chance when his free header went over the bar from close range and then in the dying seconds of the half David Brooks fired over from outside the box.

The Harriers went into the break holding onto the lead for only the second time this season.  Could they hold onto it through the second half or possibly add to it further?

The home side came out for the second half with two changes before kicking off.  Jake Hibbs and Josh MacDonald replaced Bencherif and Danny Hattersley and then five minutes in Tim Flowers called off Tahvon Campbell and replaced him with Andre Wright.  Wright was in action straight away with a quick break and shot that was blocked on the line by a home defender.

Halifax put that to one side and began to attack the Harriers with intent and at times it became something of a seige on Alex Palmer in goal for the Harriers but thankfully he coped with most that came his way.  He pulled one brilliant save off from MacDonald and tidied up in the area when other threats appeared.  They had another call for a penalty turned down when Dinsley appeared to push MacDonald in the back but luckily the referee seemed to be on our side and waved all claims away.

We couldn't hold out though and the equalising goal finally arrived just after the hour mark.  A neat bit of interplay between MacDonald and Hamilton saw the latter finding a gap in the Harriers defence to squeeze the ball through and into the corner of the net.

We could have reclaimed the lead soon after when Verma fired goalwards from outside the area and the elderly keeper, Matt Glennon, dropped the ball but recovered enough to grab hold of it again before it trickled into the goal.  Gurjit Singh could have added to his tally following that near miss but his shot was blocked away for a corner.

We then faced a couple of enforced changes to the line-up with Reece Styche going off injured to be replaced by Jake Green and then a few minutes later Singh went off with cramp for Jordan Jones to come on for his debut.

Halifax were still in search of a winning goal and Jordan Burrows sent a shot just wide of the post while Hamilton did similar a few minutes from the end of the game.  In injury time we could have walked off with all three points too but both Kelvin Langmead and Joe Clarke saw shots blocked on the line as Halifax lived dangerously and then as the whistle blew Andy Fox had a shot that whistled just wide.

We now have two aims for the game against Torquay on Tuesday evening.  Firstly beat them for our first win of the season and secondly tie Andrew Fox on a longer loan with that being his last game for us on loan from Peterborough.

 Goal for Halifax: Hamilton 67
 Goal for Harriers: Singh 11

REFEREE:

Mr G Salisbury Leicestershire