A POINT APIECE DOES NO GOOD
DEFENCES were on top in this goalless draw at Aggborough, which didn’t do either Kidderminster Harriers or York City any real favours in the National League relegation battle.
Whilst neither team could force a goal which would have secured a priceless three points, the hosts were left wondering how they didn’t break the deadlock in a second half which they controlled.
Harriers boss Phil Brown said: “We didn’t really kick on until the hour mark, which is when we looked like we had half a chance of winning the game. I didn’t ever feel that York were offering enough for us to lose the game. They’ve come here and frustrated us and got themselves a clean sheet, but fortunately we got a clean sheet too. You can lose these types of games quite easily.
“We had probably three or four very good chances, and I think if anyone deserved to win the game then we did, but at the end of the day its another clean sheet, that’s five in ten games, and we’ve taken 20 points from ten games, so I’ve got to give the players a lot of credit.”
This was the first point of Adam Hinshelwood’s reign as York manager and the new boss said: “We’ve managed to keep a clean sheet and look a little bit more solid today. We got into some good areas, but it didn’t quite fall for us, and we didn’t have enough conviction at times, and that is the next challenge for us, to create a bit more.
“Determination, grit and fight is the minimum that we ask and we have to show that in every game.”
Despite plenty of enterprise from both sides in the first half, neither side registered a shot on target and the solitary corner arrived in stoppage time.
The hosts thought they had earned a penalty on 15 minutes when former Harriers loanee Paddy McLaughlin brought down Ashley Hemmings, but the foul was adjudged to be slightly outside the area by referee Sam Mulhall and Hemmings curled the resulting free-kick over the bar.
The first shot on target finally came just after the hour when Hemmings fired a biting long-range effort which George Sykes-Kenworthy gathered at the second attempt.
The introduction of Bromley loanee Todd Miller and striker Gold Omotayo galvanised Harriers as they went in search of victory.
They went close twice in quick succession with Caleb Richards firing over from Reiss McNally’s deep cross, before Miller stung the hands of Sykes-Kenworthy.
With three minutes left, Hemmings and Morgan-Smith found themselves in acres of space on the break but couldn’t trouble Sykes-Kenworthy, and despite a bright half hour from Harriers, the game seemed destined to be goalless.
STAR MAN: Cole Kpekawa (Kidderminster) ATT: 3,521
ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★
REFEREE: Sam Mulhall