Leamington 1 Kidderminster Harriers 1 - Report
Kidderminster Harriers continued their relentless push into the play off places as they stretched an unbeaten league run going back to September with a share of the spoils at Leamington.
15th placed Leamington struggled to contain the flowing football Harriers displayed and without long term injury victim Colby Bishop, the home side failed to press from the initial strong period.
Brendan Hall made two strong saves to keep Leamington at bay in the early exchanges, Kaine Felix and Kieran Dunbar the home forwards denied.
Containment appeared to be the order of the day as Leamington set their stall out to frustrate Harriers, but the visitors had encountered this in many games before and were patient in their build up as they looked to secure three points in their first away game of 2018.
On 27 minutes Andre Brown broke clear on the right hand side, his effort deflecting off Connor Gudger and the ball looped over the stranded Tony Breeden to nestle in the bottom right corner of the net.
Harriers pressed on Elton Ngwatala created opportunities for the late arriving James Pearson and Joe Ironside but the Leamington defence retained the composure to keep the efforts at bay.
Leamington came out more determined in the second period but it was Harriers who came close as James O’Connor warmed the hands of Breeden with a long range strike.
On 56 minutes the home side were level, Fraser Horsfall was lazy with his clearance, the ball eventually breaking for former Harrier’s forward Ahmed Obeng whose drive was partially blocked by Hall but the ball had just enough pace to go over the goal-line to equalise.
Ngwatala and Dan Bradley forged an opening to attempt to regain the lead but the home defence stood firm.
Ryan Croasdale also forced a save from Breeden but it was Brandon Hall who kept Harriers impressive run going diving full length to his right in injury-time to parry away substitute’s Kurtis Revan’s right footed drive.
Harriers will feel they did enough first half but the home side had the advantage in the second period as Harriers maintain their place in the play-offs.
Teams:
Leamington: Breeden, Taundry, Gudger, Clarke, Hood, English, Dunbar, Gittings, Felix (Revan 79), Edwards (Canavan 69), Obeng (Magunda 90+2). Subs Not Used : Mace, Moore.
Harriers: Hall, Pearson, O’Connor, Horsfall, Croasdale, Ngwatala, Ironside, McQuilkin, Brown (Wright 81), Truslove (Bradley 62), Taylor (Vaughan 62). Subs Not Used Williams, Austin.
