Harborough Town Reserves manager Tony Sansome:
“Newport Pagnell Res 3 Harborough Town Res 1
We started yesterday like a team that thinks it is better than we really are. We sensed complacency in the warm up and that manifested itself to the start of the game.
We were 2-0 down after 11 minutes, both poor bits of defending from ourselves, we are a young inexperienced side who wants to play football, and we were being bossed and bullied by a much older and experienced side, but that’s no excuse for the way we started. We sensed it and we attempted to fire them up, it seemed we failed. Gradually we got ourselves into the game although our passing wasn’t as crisp as we expect. We did have a gilt edged chance when Josh King poked the ball towards the goal, Sam Edwards spun and tried to kick into an empty net but didn’t make much connection and the chance was gone, by now we were in the game but Newport still looked the more dangerous side, and they scored again on 39, an excellent finish but poor from our side as no one pressed him, and gave him ample time to shoot.
The lads were given a roasting at half time and we came out better although still not as good as we expect. We did have the ball in the back of the net through Paul Lewis but were surprised to see it disallowed for apparent offside. We did force the keeper to make several good saves including one excellent one. We finally scored on 89 through Timmy Gorman Powell when his tenacity was rewarded but it was too little too late.
Well done to Newport they were organised and clearly had a game plan, and it’s obvious we need to be better against such opponents. I wish them the best for the remainder of the season, and their gaffer who we had a long chat too after the game was a top guy. From our side Edwards was the stand out performer, plus subs Taylor Holland and Ollie Gilbert who made an impact when they came on.”
