Harriers bombard the Altrincham goal

The Harriers picked up three more points today in a tough encounter with fellow relagees (could that be a new word?) Altrincham with a single goal from Arthur Gnahoua a minute before halftime but to be truthful we saw so many shots and half shots on goal it should have been far more than the single goal.  For their part Altrincham defended like trojans to keep the attacking Red hordes at bay but could also have had a couple of goals of their own when twice they caught Sam Hornby off his line and tried to lob him.

With the game being played in sweltering sunshine it was the Harriers that kicked the game off and for the first ten minutes both sides traded passes and looked about equal to each other.  The first breakthrough went the visitors way when Emile Sinclair fired goalwards but Damian Reeves just failed to get a touch on.  Ex Harrier, if only for a short while, Jake Moult sent a shot over the bar and then we began to play.

It was the lively Tyrell Waite who was the first to shine for the Harriers after we had already gone close though Zaine Francis-Angol and Tyrone Williams had already tested the water with a couple of headers.  It was Waites header from Francis-Angols cross that forced the visiting keeper Andrew Dawber into a good save and tipped the ball around the upright.

A second chance came our way on the half hour mark when Keith Lowe fired over from a corner and then Emmanuel Dieseruvwe found Dawber in the wrong place again as he turned on the goal line to fire the ball home but somehow the keeper got a hand to it.

As we have already found to our dismay this season not one of these Northern based referees are up to much with them so eager to dish the cards out.  So it was when James McQuilkin was penalised for falling over an outstretched defenders leg in the penalty area.  If it been Quilks intention to win a penalty then fair enough but on this occasion it was his momentum that carried him over and made him fall.  He will now miss the Darlington game because of his five yellow cards but then again he has been stupid enough to pick up the four previous cards through his own fault.

For the remainder of the game the official continued to dismay the fans of both sides with some petty decisions but then totally ignoring Ryan Croasdale being pulled back mid-air by the back of his collar.

With time ticking away, and the Harriers fans beginning to think we were never going to score, we hit the back of the net.  A great passage of play from deep saw the ball eventually played to Waite out wide.  He moved inside to bamboozle the defender and thenj scooped the ball to the waiting Gnahoua who struck first time to blast the ball into the roof of the net.

At the start of the second period Altrincham made a tactical change and replaced Sinclair with Billy Hasler-Cregg, a rookie striker from their youth team.  It seemed to work as they began to dictate the game and put pressure on the Harriers goal more and more.  It was he who was the first to try a lobbed ball over the top of Hornby but luckily for us it went over the bar.

A short period of more Alty pressure followed but the Harriers defence coped with it well enough before we had a chance of our own for Jordan Tunnicliffe to head the ball home but he failed to get a good connection on it and the chance was saved easily.

Again Altrincham saw a chance of a lobbed goal and again it was over the bar but this time James Lawries effort was far too close for comfort.  Hopefully the warning took effect on Hornby and he'll be wise to it in future.  He does tend to go on walkabout a little too much.

Try as we might we couldn't seem to get a clear sight of goal and no amount of probing could see us make a further breakthrough for the time being.  Altrincham didn't look likely to score either and, apart from the referee's pettiness, it looked like one goal was going to have to be enough even though the crowd were clamouring for more.  Changes were needed.

Elton N'Gwatala was to first to be withdrawn from the game with Liam Truslove taking his place and then Robert Stambolziev replaced Francis-Angol in a strange move with a winger replacing a defender.  The Australians first move was to get himself booked when he went in a little too hard on Simon Richman and caused the Altrincham wideman to be substituted.  That was probably the only yellow card of the day for us that actually warranted the punishment.

Eight minutes from the end we came close to scoring, at last, when Gnahoua saw his firm shot parried by Dawber.  Bursting into life, at last, we then saw chances go the way of Waite and substitute Andre Brown but finally the whistle went on three well earned points for the Reds that take us back up to fifth place in the table at the expense of Halifax who have dropped down the table in the last few games after starting so brightly.

On Friday evening we travel to Darlington to face an on form Darlington in what could be an early six pointer already.  We'll need to have our wits about us for that one.

 Goal for Harriers: Gnahoua 43

REFEREE:

Mr A Jackson Liverpool