Venue:
Aggborough
att:  2208  away fans:  124
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Harriers
0
  
A great 1st half show is ruined by a shocking 2nd half.  Made worse by the referee signing a contract with Boston at half time.
Boston
4
  Beevers 50
  Kirk 56(pen),81(pen),90
  harriers-online match report
Saturday 6th November 2004 
HOME
Reds, no chance against 12 man Boston


The Harriers crashed to their worst home defeat in the League today when they went down 0 - 4 against a very ordinary Boston side.  On the day, ordinary will always beat dreadful hands down.

With two new faces in the side, Jon Beswetherick and Darryn Stamp, we had a reasonable first half with plenty of good football and some excellent work from Simon Russell.

Even with the improved performance there were still moments when we looked as if we could mess it all up.  We still took an age to get the ball to the front pairing of James Keene and Stamp, preferring to play the ball sideways, crossways and back to the keeper.

Boston were more direct.  Not so much of the long ball that they're famous for but they played the ball direct to Jason Lee and Andy Kirk to run onto.

It was Kirk that came closest to scoring for them in the first half when he ran onto a ball played through the middle and only the alertness of Ben Foster stopped him scoring when he came out to smother the ball at Kirks feet.

For us, when we did get a sight of the goal, it was Keene that could have scored in the opening minutes with a shot that he somehow managed to drag across the face of the goal.  A powerful volley from Simon Russell was tipped over the bar by Abbey and a couple of speculative shots also from Russell tested the keeper but failed to get past him.

It had been a satisfying first half for both sides but the Harriers would have been the happiest with their best bit of football for ages.


HT. 0 - 0

The second half started and it was obvious that someone had upset them.  Maybe there wasn't enough sugar in the tea or the oranges were a bit sour.  Whatever it was they had no intention of repeating the first half performance.

Within five minutes of the restart Utd had taken the lead with a corner from Noble that was ignored by our defenders and left for Lee Beevers to deal with.  His header flew into the top of the net.

Only one goal down and we could easily pull this back but we weren't helped by an over fussy referee who had already made some ludicrous decisions in the first half and now decided to compound his errors further.

The first clanger he made was allowing a Boston defender to stay on the pitch after going in with a two footed tackle from behind on Simon Russell.  He didn't even give him a booking for it.  Minutes later he put Wayne Hatswells name in the book for what, to us, looked like an innocuous tackle.  Wayne, just back from a one game ban, will now miss the next League game at Grimsby.

The second clanger that the ref dropped was the one that led to Bostons second goal.

Jason Lee ran onto another strong pass out to the edge of the area but at the same time Ben Foster was also rushing for the ball.  They both collided in a 50-50 conflict but to the amazement of the Harriers fans the ref gave Boston the penalty.

Kirk stepped up and placed the ball to Fosters left with the rookie keeper going the other way.

Tempers started to fray a bit now and some heavy tackles were flying in but again the referee, Bates, did nothing to penalise the offenders when they were dressed in black and gold shirts but as soon as a Harriers player offended he wasted no time in running the length of the pitch blasting away on his whistle.

One good push and he would have swallowed it.

We had now gone from being a force to be reckoned with in the first half to a side that really do look to be heading to the graveyard of non-league football.

Amazingly, ten minutes from the end, the obnoxious man in black added further misery to the Harriers season when he gifted Boston yet another penalty.

Ben Foster went out to collect a ball on his left and Kirk, who had also gone for the same ball, fell over him.  The referee again pointed to the spot and again Kirk sent the keeper the wrong way with a copy of his first penalty.

Considering there was no booking for our keeper summed this referee up to a tee.

The answer to this sorry state of affairs from a section of the North Bank was a spell of chanting for the board to sack themselves???

The fourth, and thankfully, final goal went in on the ninetieth minute when Jason Lee's shot was only parried by Foster.  The ball fell just right for Kirk and he had an easy tap in to complete their victory.

Good points to come from this fiasco:
  • Simon Russell had a good first half
  • We played some great football in the first half


  • Bad points:
  • Awful second half
  • Awful refereeing
  • Poor defending for all four goals
  • Lack of leadership when it was most needed
  • Poor set play kicks from Dean Keates
  • Disappointing first game from Darryn Stamp
  • Not much better from Jon Beswetherick
  • Disgraceful by a section of the crowd calling for the board to go and not attempting to raise the players morale


  • FT. 0 - 4

    The Harriers-Online
    Man of the Match is : 
    Simon Russell

    This is for his first half showing.  In the second half he did at least try but the support was next to non-existent.
    Man of the Match
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    Harriers  subs   cards      Boston Utd  subs   cards 
    Ben Foster     Abbey  
    Cooper     West  
    Beswetherick     Beevers  
    Jenkins     Ellender  
    Sall     McCann  
    Hatswell   Thompson
    Russell     Noble  
    Keates   Greaves
    Stamp     Lee  
    Keene     Thomas  
    Christiansen     Kirk
    SUBS:       SUBS:    
    Lewis     Melton  
    Advice     Holland  
    Diop   Rusk  
    Ian Foster     McCormick  
    McHale     Pitt  

    REFEREE:
    Mr A Bates
    Stoke on Trent

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