Harriers 'Terrarise' Weymouth

The Harriers glided into the 1st round of the FA Cup with this clinical demolition of Weymouth FC and the emphatic 6-0 scoreline is now the third time we have scored six goals this season with two of those coming in the Cup.  We now go into the pot for the draw on Monday evening that could see us paired with a league club or, knowing our luck, Stourbridge.  Whoever we get a home draw would be ideal for progressing further.  Then again a game away at the likes of Sheffield Utd, Bolton, Portsmouth or even Coventry would be good for our finances with the latter a good chance to right wrongs when we played miserably there in the 3rd round seven years ago.

Todays game was a renewing of our meetings of a few years back when they were always close fought affairs with the Terras usually coming out on top.  Today was different though and a good example of how two teams at the same level back then look worlds apart now.

We started the game on another beautiful Indian Summer day with Zaine Francis-Angol returning from international duty for Antigua to step back into the place covered by Ashley Carter last week.  Carter wouldn't have made the game anyway after almost getting his leg broken at home to Fylde last week.  The only other change was a place on the bench for the Academy midfielder Mitch Evans, or Mitch the Titch as he already seems to be known by.

The game started with an un-expected nervousness from us with a few passes going astray and a lack of concentration in areas were concentration is needed but it didn't take long to get in the swing of things.  Mani Dieseruvwe sent a header onto the bar and then Jordan Tunnicliffe guided his header just wide of the top corner.  Both were chances that would have been buried in more recent games.

Midway through the half came a low point of the game when Elton N'Gwatala seemed to fall badly and hurt his shoulder.  After quite a time treating him he was forced to leave the game and Liam Truslove took his place.  The game got slightly scrappy after that with some needless shirt pulling and obstruction from both sides but more from the visitors.  The poor referee didn't seem to be too bothered about it though.

Once we took the lead that was all forgotten for a while and we turned what could have become a bad tempered game into one with an un-assailable lead for the Reds.  Nice interplay between ZFA and Arthur Gnahoua set up a ball across the face of goal that seemed to be heading for the corner flag.  That was until Dieseruvwe turned on a sixpence and fired the ball into the net beyond the reach of the dumpy Weymouth keeper Dan Thomas.

That triggered Weymouth into their only decent spell of the game when fired straight at Sam Hornby in the Harriers goal and then another shot was deflected out for a fruitless corner.

Exactly ten minutes after our opening goal we got our second and it was a first goal in a red shirt for Jordan Tunnicliffe although he did score three times for Sutton Coldfield while on loan there.  We had earned yet another corner but in previous attempts we hadn't got it quite right but this time we did.  Gnahoua took the kick and floated it over to the far post where Tunnicliffe got the highest to nod it over the, once again, static keeper.

Traffic was now one way and the feeling was that a third goal before half time would be ideal.  That of course came with possibly the best goal of the game form another corner, this time taken by James McQuilkin, who this time floated the ball to the edge of the area for Truslove to sweep it into the top of the net with a blistering drive that no keeper could have saved.

The second period started with a change for the Terras when Dan Smith came on for Ben Thompson.  The idea could have been to increase their forward options but they still didn't make any real effort to break us down.  Or perhaps they didn't have the players capable of that.

It took just seven minutes to wrap the game up totally.  At 3-0 down you could say that a chance was there but at 4-0 and a team that had little idea up front it was the end of the game.  More slick play, this time from Tyrell Waite and Francis-Angol, saw them play the to Gnahoua who fired the ball home from the edge of the area.

The game was definitely over soon after that goal with the first of Waites brace.  Again the keeper was a mere spectator when we saw a goal that could have been a copy of the 'goal that wasn't' against Wrexham in November 2013 after the ball went through the side netting to give them a consolation goal.  This time Waite got to the bye-line and then jinked back in against the defender before firing the ball just inside the post and into the net.  The ball then carried on through and out for what the referee said was a goal kick.  That was until players and fans alike protested that it had gone in and then out.  The linesman was called over and he told the referee it was a goal then went off to repair the net.  Why he didn't tell the referee straight away is to be expected at this level, sadly.

Terry got his second just under fifteen minutes later to round off another six goal haul for the Harriers.  This time the Weymouth defenders stood off once again and all he had to do was to lift it over the keepers head and into the net for his fifth goal since signing for us in August.

Ten minutes from the end, and with the game safe, we bought on Mitch Evans for his debut.  The diminutive midfielder looks like he should still be at school but he earned his place with a smart clearance in the area when the visitors actually woke up and tried to score.  Sam Hornby made his first save of the game soon after but if they had of scored then it would have been an undeserved consolation.

Full credit to their fans though who didn't stop singing throughout the whole ninety minutes of the game.

We now go into the draw on Monday evening and hopefully we'll get a pairing that suits us.

 Goals for Harriers: Dieseruvwe 31, Tunnicliffe 41, Truslove 45, Gnahoua 51, Waite 58, 72

REFEREE:

Mr D Bourne Nottingham