Yet another second half collapse for Harriers

For the third game running the Harriers changed teams for the second half of a game after dominating the first half then collapsing miserably in the second.  As at Bromley and Barrow we saw the first half playing football along the ground and passing the ball around with ease against Welling but once that mystery second half team came out of the dressing room the passing was thrown out with the half time tea leaves.  And for the third time this season we had a man sent off early on in that doomed second half.

We started the game unchanged from last week at Barrow with Gurjit Singh still out with an injury.  On the bench was the new signing Zaine Francis-Angol with Lathaniel Rowe-Turner coming onto the bench following his illness of the last few weeks.

Although we played well in the first period we had very little to show for our efforts with Reece Styche getting frustrated as usual and Jordan Jones putting balls into the area but finding no one there to convert them.  Welling were the first side to actually test a keeper when Ricky Wellard tried to poke the ball past Alex Palmer at the side of the upright but Palmer got down to it easily.

We came close to scoring twice when Jones flashed a shot across the face of the goal and then, just before the break, Tahvon Campbell fired one straight at the Welling keeper, Tom King.  Apart from that all our pretty football had come to very little.

The second half, again was full of hope but ultimately disappointed with our total reversal of all the good work of the first half.  You could see right from the off that our body language had changed as Welling took easy control and our possession of the ball vanished into the ether.

The first indication of us losing our grip came when a poor back pass went between Jordan Tunnicliffe and Harry Lee as the Harriers defender stuck out his foot and Lee came tumbling down a mite too easily for the free kick although Jordan wasn't shown a yellow card.  Lee and George Porter exchanged the free kick between them and it was Porters final touch that sent the ball through the poorly assembled wall and beyond the grasp of Palmer.

Three minutes later and Tunnicliffe again was done the dirty on when a shocking, one of many, misplaced back pass by Jared Hodgkiss left the number fifteen one on one with Porter and in no mans land as Porter also tumbled to earth too easily.  This time the referee didn't hesitate in pulling out a card and inevitably it had to be red.

One goal and a man short heads now dropped and we looked a spent force yet again.  To compound the misery the impressive Jordan Jones was sacrificed to bring on Rowe-Turner although it was hard to understand the reasoning behind that decision.  Other changes took place quickly after with Jake Green and Zaine Francis-Angol coming on for Tahvon Campbell and Joe Clarke.

Even being just the one goal behind we had lost all desire to do anything about it and let Welling dictate the tempo of the game with plenty of time wasting.  We had chances to score from a couple of poor corners, a decent shot on the angle from Green and in the final minute of the game a header from Kelvin Langmead after he had been pushed up front alongside Reece Styche.

Another winless game and another week at the foot of the table.  Will it all change at home to Boreham Wood on Tuesday or will i just be doing a repeat of this match report yet again?

 Goal for Welling: Porter 49

REFEREE:

Mr K Evans Manchester