Harriers almost run riot

The Harriers gave a much improved performance at home to Gainsborough Trinity today and ran out winners but at times you could see that we were wasting too many chance to score and so what could, and should, have been the Reds running riot eventually ended up as a frustrating 3-0 win.  Before the first goal went in at seven minutes we should have been two goals clear after Arthur Gnahoua fired straight at the keeper in a one on one situation and then a minute later Elton N'Gwatala ballooned his shot over the bar from just a few feet out.

You could sense the nerves in the team though after two losses in our last two games at Blackpool and Halifax and they might just have been trying too hard.  The nerves did finally settle in the seventh minute when Gnahoua bagged his ninth goal of the season and what a fine goal it was.  Elton collected the ball off Ryan Croasdale in midfield and then burst into the Trinity box to play the ball to Arthur who then side-stepped a little then swept the ball beyond George Willis in the visitors goal.

We should have gone on to increase the lead further but we sat back a little and allowed Gainsborough onto us.  They began to bully us off the ball and also to target our weakened defence with Ashley Carter and Sam Austin replacing our missing full-backs Zaine Francis-Angol and Tyrone Williams.  ZFA was out injured and Williams was serving a suspension for his red card at Halifax last weekend.  Carter is used to that position but not so the speedy winger Austin who often found himself in two minds wether to defend or attack.  It seemed a strange decision to have Austin covering at fullback considering we had a defender sat on the bench following Richard Sho-Silvas return from his loan spell at Halesowen.

It wasn't just at the back where we were having problems.  At times we were trying to be too intricate in our passing and possession and then ending up losing the ball far too often.

Thankfully as half time approached we had begun to iron the little mistakes out and our second goal arrived.  We had been going through a string of corners and from one of these the ball was played into the congested goal line and then scrambled over the line by N'Gwatala after a snapshot from close range by him was then bundled home.

For the second period we came out looking a little more alert to tha fact that we were getting robbed of the ball all the time.  This time we showed less of the fancy flicks and more of the running into space to receive a pass.  It still wasn't perfect but it was better.

Right from the kick off we attacked and Andre Brown could have got his name on the scoresheet when Elton played the ball through for him to run onto but he took a little too long getting his shot away and the Trinity keeper went down at his feet to smother the ball.  Willis made another great save later on when he pushed James McQuilkins shot from near the touchline away and then pounced to then push away the follow-up shot away too.

Midway through the new half the failings of the first re-surfaced once again with the Harriers being forced into mistakes and so losing possession far too often.  Gainsborough earned a string of corners but thankfully did little with the and Sam Hornby was never in any real danger of conceding from one of them.

Luckily for us we confirmed our win twenty minutes from the end of the game when Elton N'Gwatala again won the battle in midfield with his quick feet and pushed the ball through to Tyrell Waite to take it forward a few steps then fire it around Willis and so into the back of the net for our third and final goal of the afternoon.  The fans were hoping that the floodgates were now going to open as they were at the Fylde v Boston game but they never did and we seemed content to just keep hold of the ball and do not much with it.

With the game won we sent on an Academy youngster, Owen Osborne, for the remaining fifteen minutes.  Our last real attempt on goal was for McQuilkin when he shot wide.

So a game that promised so much delivered little apart from three goals.  We made it hard work getting the win but that could be down to instructions to protect our in-experienced defence and not get too carried away with scoring goals.  We did enough then.

 Goals for Harriers: Gnahoua 7, N'Gwatala 44, Waite 63

REFEREE:

Mr A Tankard Sheffield