Curzon Ashton 1 Kidderminster Harriers 1 - Report

The scoreline only tells half the story as three penalty chances were spurned, two by visiting Harriers in a game that had ten minutes of added time following an injury to referee Andy Sykes.

Harriers came into the game off the back of a 5-2 routing of Darlington and showed they were in as determined mood creating early chances for Joe Ironside and Ashley Chambers.

Alex Samizadeh was a handful for the visitors defence and following a challenge from Fraser Horsfall, he fired a shot that was saved by Brendan Hall low to his right.

On 20 minutes Hall again saved to his right, denying Ryan Brooke from the penalty spot after Jimmy O’Connor had impeded Connor Hughes.

Joe Ironside had a chance nine minutes later, Dan Shaw upended Ed Williams, but the striker’s penalty was parried away by Cameron Mason at full stretch.

The ‘Nash’ took the lead eight minutes before the break, Connor Hughes broke down the right and his right wing cross was partially blocked but Chris Rowney was denied by Hall before Brooke bundled home the loose ball in the resulting melee.

As the interval approached both Ashley Chambers and Joe Ironside headed wide as the visitors fought to get on level terms.

Harriers dominated the second period, Chambers and Williams both testing Mason early on and Ironside saw his downward header cleared off the line by Shaw.

It was only a matter of time before the visitors would score and with seventeen minutes remaining Ashley Chambers showed calmness and composure as he raced clear onto Kane Richards through ball to stroke home a right footed finish.

Harriers front men were posing more problems Chambers flashed a header narrowly wide before earning an 89 th minute penalty as Mason charged from his goal to leave the striker sprawling.

Enter Kane Richards to take the third penalty of the afternoon, but he skewed his effort horribly wide of Mason’s right hand post to keep the scores level.

Ten minutes of added time for the injury to referee Sykes, saw both sides have chances, Hughes striking the angle of bar and post for the home side, Chambers directing a header against the post and Williams goalbound strike from the rebound was pushed over by the recovering Mason to leave the spoils shared.

Teams

Curzon Ashton: Mason, Morton, O’Leary, Hunt, Shaw, Rowney, Guest, Marshall (Deakin 67), Brooke (Ali 76), Samizadeh (Cummins 65), Hughes. Subs Not Used: Crankshaw, Fawns.

Kidderminster Harriers: Hall, Vaughan, Taylor, O’Connor, Horsfall, Johnson, Weeks, Daniels, Williams, Ironside (Richards 65), Chambers. Subs Not Used Stratford, Austin, Baxendale, Digie