AUSTIN’S BOYS ARE MOTORING
HARBOROUGH Town boss Mitch Austin said his side bagged the win and promotion they deserved after goals at either end of the game saw off promotion rivals Anstey Nomads.
Kai Tonge struck after just five minutes with Luis Rose wrapping things up in added time after the Bees defence had withstood a late onslaught from their hosts.
“I thought we were brilliant from start to finish,” said Austin, whose side would have won the league but for a six-point deduction for fielding an inelible player.
“It was never going to be a spectacle being a final. We just had to get through it but I thought our game management and the way we played was excellent and we were deserved winners.
“We defended for our lives and, going forward, we looked a threat. We got our just desserts following a tough season.
“I got my team mentally focussed, not to play the occasion, just the game. Anstey don’t lose many at home, if any, and they always score – but today they haven’t, which shows what sort of performance we’ve put in to get the victory we deserved.”
Austin could not have wished for a better start. Even before the opening goal, a Jake Duffy free-kick found Connor Kennedy who headed over from close range.
The breakthrough came a minute later, Tonge beating defender Joel Wolfe to Rose’s through ball before shrugging off the challenge of Lewis Gibbens and prodding the ball through the legs of veteran keeper Conrad Logan.
Anstey’s first effort saw Zayn Hakeem’s shot blocked while visiting keeper Elliott Taylor was called into action two minutes later to keep out Kyle Tomlin’s low drive.
It would have been 2-0 going into the break had Logan not managed to block another Tonge effort after he had latched onto Duffy’s through ball and Harborough were again denied by the former Leicester City keeper at the start of the second half as he kept out a Rose shot when the former Anstey man was again clean through on goal.
Tonge was then thwarted by Logan as the 38-year-old kept his side in contention and it was Nomads who went on to dominate the final half-hour.
Hakeem had a header cleared from in front of goal by giant Bees defender Alex Morris before skipper Jordan Annable and Freddie Robinson both put efforts over the bar in a frantic finale.
But Harborough held out and wrapped things up in added time when Connor Kennedy played Rose in on goal and he found the net despite Logan getting a hand on the shot.
Austin added: “Anstey are the only team to beat us twice in the league but I think they got the best of Harborough today and couldn’t deal with it.”