A Game Not For The History Books As Whitworths Clinch Victory Against Harborough
Harborough Town were looking to capitalise on their epic display last weekend and keep the league momentum going; with the previous encounter between The Bees and Wellingborough Whitworths ending in victory for Harborough, it was not out-of-place to have a good feeling about this match. With Whitworths dejectedly the owners of the worst record in the league, with not a single win under their belts, Harborough would have been wise to really dominate this game and instil further confidence in themselves.
That plan all came crashing down within the first 5 minutes, when Remy Britian found himself with acres of room on the edge of the box and fired a bullet into the top-left corner, far out of reach from a stretching Glen Giles. Harborough looked to respond quickly, and Aaron Preston had his first sniff at goal when a poor challenge from Lee Purser allowed him to bundle through, only to be halted by Adam Honour flying off his line to make an important challenge. The pressure was all on Whitworths at this point, and Finlay Gray curled in a beautiful ball across the 6-yard box, but there was no Harborough player willing to attack it. Alex Morris won a free kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the Whitworths box, but Jordan Lever’s ball in was too deep; Harborough managed to work it back into the box before Dan Kitching went down looking for a penalty, but the ref was having none of it. Alex Morris, much like last week, was using his pace and intensity to cause all sorts of problems at the Whitworth backline, and a smart ball by Preston saw him set Morris free; he drilled a ball across the face of goal which was met by the head of Daniel Forbes who buried it into the back of the net for the equaliser. After the enthralling opening 20 minutes, the pace slowed up, quality dropped, and both teams seemed to be happy to hold onto the 1-1 scoreline. On the verge of half-time, Harborough had a strong spell with Preston in space on the edge of the box before letting off an absolute rocket with his right-foot which, unfortunately, rattled against the bar and out.
The second half began as the majority of the first played out: slow, unexciting and lacking in quality in all areas. The first moment of action saw the third and final goal of the day, as Remy Britian got his brace when a perfectly weighted ball through allowed him plenty of time to choose his spot and clinically slot the ball past Giles. Little else happened after that, and as time went on it only looked ever more likely that Whitworth would get a 3rd, but it was not to be.
It’s safe to say this was not a classic. Neither side really looked up for it at any point, and the 90 minutes was rife with inaccurate passes, poor movement off the ball, and just a generally slow tempo for a game at this level. It wasn’t helped by the whistle happy ref; but when The Bees have shown their quality in games such as last week’s fixture and against Cambridge City who are a step higher, it is frustrating for fans to have to witness games like this one. Fans and players alike will look to wipe this one from their memories as soon as possible, and Stuart Spencer will be working towards bouncing back to the quality he knows his boys have when they welcome Kirby Muxloe next weekend.
