Report

Vanarama National League North
Phillips 66 Community Stadium
Tuesday 30th October 2018

 Brakes endured a torrid evening and fell to their heaviest defeat of the season so far at the hands of a very good Kidderminster Harriers side who on this evidence will surely be in the promotion shake up come the end of the season.

Paul Holleran said that he had hoped the second half performance against Darlington on Saturday would provide a springboard for his team as they went into this clash with second placed Harriers, but admitted after the game that it had probably had the opposite effect after they had worked so hard with ten men for over half the game.

Leamington only showed very brief flashes of what they are capable of in this game, but they were simply not allowed to by Neil McFarlane’s impressive visitors, who scored four goals of high quality and were outstanding all over the pitch, so much so that they even came closest to scoring for the home side!

Anthony Dwyer was clearly eager to make amends for his sending off on Saturday and cracked in a well struck half volley early on that stung the palms of Kiddy keeper Brandon Hall, who could only parry the shot.

Harriers had a couple of early sighters that were dealt with by Tony Breeden, but the skipper was powerless to stop his former club from taking the lead on 18 minutes and then doubling it within two.

Ashley Chambers was the architect of the first, beating James Mace with the roll of the ball before forcing Breeden into a save from his low shot. Unfortunately the ball fell nicely for Dan Bradley to tap into an empty net.

The goalscorer then set up Declan Weeks on 20 minutes for a spectacular second, the ball thundering in off the underside of the bar from outside the box.

Leamington were shell shocked, but Joe Clarke forced another parry from Hall with a powerful drive that skimmed off the turf, the loose ball being smuggled away before Callum Gittings could latch onto it.

Breeden was forced into another save low at his near post as the visitors looked certain to add a third following an almighty scramble in the penalty area, while Dwyer screwed a header horribly wide from a good left wing cross by Ahmed Obeng.

If the game wasn’t already over as a contest it certainly was on 35 minutes as Chambers added another spectacular strike to the Harriers tally, thumping a fine strike into the far corner.

Brakes almost fashioned a chance to pull one back before half time when Obeng moved into the penalty area and played Gittings in, who then squared for Dwyer to strike a first time shot that was blocked almost before it left his boot by Kidderminster skipper James O’Connor, who was inches from an embarrassing own goal when he sliced Obeng’s right wing centre against his own crossbar. It kind of summed up Leamington’s night that the closest a player came to scoring a goal for them was wearing red and white.

The second at least saw the flow of goals stemmed, but Brakes continued to struggle to make any inroads against their full time opponents, and Lee Vaughan continued Harriers own goal of the month competition with another sumptuous strike on 62 minutes, Ed Williams playing him in to thrash the ball into the net off the underside of the bar from out on the right. It was difficult not to be impressed.

One positive for Leamington was that Colby Bishop got another 25 minutes or so under his belt, and looked sharp. He only had one real chance, when he connected with Connor Gudger’s free kick but was only able to head into the arms of Hall.

A late rally and a flurry of corners failed to yield a consolation for Brakes, and they left the field disconsolate and well beaten, only Breeden returning the applause from the supporters.

‘It was probably the most difficult fixture we’ve had so far this season,’ said Holleran afterwards. ‘We’ve lost some games, but I think that’s the first one where we haven’t been in it. We’ve competed in most of our games so far but apart from little flashes tonight it really was a difficult night for us. The main factor is that Kidderminster are a very good side, they’re full of quality.’

‘We’ve had some tired legs out there after Saturday, but one of the minus points of this season is that we’re conceding poor goals. We try to make our home a difficult place to come, we try to be competitive, we try to play when we can, with a good tempo and try and put the leg work in, but sadly that wasn’t there for long periods tonight. We spent long periods without the ball, we got frustrated and it drained us emotionally a bit I think, and we were flat.’

‘You’re going to lose football matches, we know that, especially in this division, but there are ways to lose, and I’m not sure that that was a great way to lose a match tonight. We’ll have a little debrief about tonight on Thursday because out shape has got to be better, and we’ve got an important game on Saturday against Nuneaton, so we’ll regroup and get going again. We’ve bounced back before, and we’ll do it again.’

Attendance: 782

Leamington: Tony Breeden ©, Junior English, Connor Gudger, Joe Clarke, James Mace, Jack Lane, Connor Taylor (17 Kieran Dunbar, 59), Callum Gittings, Anthony Dwyer (12 Colby Bishop, 65), Jack Edwards (14 Reece Flanagan, 59), Ahmed Obeng.

Subs not used: 15 Jamie Hood, 16 James Bowen.

Kidderminster Harriers: Brandon Hall, Lee Vaughan, Joel Taylor, James O’Connor, Fraser Horsfall, Ryan Johnson, Declan Weeks, Billy Daniels, Dan Bradley (Joe Ironside, 66), Ashley Chambers (12 Kane Richards, 66), Ed Williams (15 James Baxendale, 73).

Subs not used: 16 Sam Austin, 17 Kennedy Digie.

Referee: Mr Scott Simpson

Assistant Referees: Mr Les Sinclair & Mr Tom Bowkett

Brakes Man of the Match: Joe Clarke.