BROWN OFF TO A FLYER WITH KIDDY
PHIL BROWN enjoyed a dream start to his reign at Kidderminster Harriers, as the National League strugglers stormed back from two goals down to defeat Aldershot Town in a pulsating affair.
An early opener from teen ace Josh Stokes and a Cian Harries penalty put the Shots in cruise control, only for a quickfire brace from Ashley Hemmings to restore parity by the break.
And Harriers kicked on to secure a fifth, and biggest, win of the season thanks to further efforts from Amari Morgan-Smith and Gold Omotayo, much to the delight of the new Aggborough boss.
“There were some great individual performances, and someone has to get the man of the match award, but as far as I’m concerned, the team performance was outstanding,” Brown beamed.
“The players have set the standard now and put the marker down to me as to what they are capable of. I now know they can battle, they can fight, and that they can score goals, and that was the most pleasing part.
“I want players to represent Kidderminster Harriers, represent themselves and me by playing the way they played today.”
Brown, though, must have wondering what he was letting himself in for when Lorent Tolaj squared for Stokes to calmly slot home inside six minutes.
And things went from bad to worse for the hosts on 24 minutes when Tolaj was brought down in the box and Harries sent Christian Dibble the wrong way from thje resulting penalty.
But Harriers were given hope six minutes later when Morgan-Smith was sent to the ground by Harries inside the box and Hemmings kept his cool to halve the deficit from the spot.
Hemmings struck again to bring Harriers level following Caleb Richards’ cross, handing the impetus to the home side for the second half.
Indeed, three minutes after the restart, Brown’s side were in front – Alex Penny delivering a deep cross and Morgan-Smith rising above his marker to nod home past Jasper Sheik for his 50th career goal for Harriers.
Hemmings squandered a golden chance for a hat-trick but saw a second penalty saved by 18-year-old debutant Sheik.
But sub Omotayo made sure of the win by rifling home a fourth after Hemmings’ shot was parried by Sheik.
Shots boss Tommy Widdrington said: “Too many people did their own thing instead of what the team were doing. We had a plan which was working well but then we invited them back into the game.
“I don’t want to pick out individuals but there are one or two who are way below where they should be and they need very quickly to turn that around.” STAR MAN: Amari Morgan-Smith (Kidd’minster) ATT: 3,089 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Steven Copeland