Kidderminster Harriers Supporters Team

The Harriers Fans team’s run of results ended in dramatic fashion at the hands of one of the best Fans team around in the shape of West Bromwich Albion’s Boing FC.

The game got under way at break neck speed with West Brom taking the lead with the first attack of the game. However still inside the first 3 minutes the Harriers levelled after a goal of the season contender from Sean Merrywether, when he lashed an effort from fully 35 yards which hit the underside of the bar before nestling into the back of the net.

The Harriers then stunned Boing by taking the lead on 5 minutes when Ben Grazier fired home from inside the 6 yards box. The shock lead wasn’t to last long though, with 15 on the clock the West Brom wide man raced through on goal to level things up with a neat finish. The first of a few questionable decisions came on the half hour mark when the referee chose to overrule the linesman to allow a contentious 3rd for the Baggies despite the forward appearing to goal side of the last defender. West Brom were now in the ascendency and their class started to show as they started to boss the game with some neat passing moves and despite the nature of the 3rd goal, West Brom went into the break with a deserved 3-2 lead.

The second half started as the first ended with the home side having all the possession. The plucky Harriers were being pushed back and found themselves defending deeper and deeper but as the Harriers rode the storm they found an equaliser through another tidy finish from the impressive Sean Merrywether to make it 3-3. The game at this point started to even itself out with half chances at both ends, but Boing made theirs count when a cross come-shot from the West Brom wide man eluded the Harriers back-line to find its way into the goal.

True to recent form, the Harriers didn’t give up and went up the other end searching for another equaliser and so they found it when a corner was handled in the area giving Merrywether a chance to level things up from the spot and bag a hat-trick which he duly obliged. So with the clock ticking down you could have said that it was slightly harsh on the home side not to be winning the game as up until now they had bossed the midfield and had the lion’s share of possession, but nobody could deny the Harriers a share of the spoils as they defended excellently with Andy Morgan in particular impressing in the Harriers Backline.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be though, when the referee awarded a direct free kick on 90 minutes when Andy Morgan appeared to have made an excellent tackle, the referee instead chose to blow his whistle. The free-kick was struck with venom and rattled the cross-bar but the ball wasn’t cleared properly and with just seconds left on the clock, a Boing FC substitute fired an unstoppable effort from 25 yards to break the hearts of the Harriers Fans team.

So a cruel blow for the 14 travelling Harriers fans, but a performance to be proud of none the less.

Man of the Match - Sean Merryweather

Scorers - Sean Merryweather 3 and Ben Grazier

Team and Ratings
Ian Danby (7), Mark Connolly (6), Ben Grazier (6), Simon Clarke (6), Sean Merrweather (8), Andy Morgan (8), Mitchell Pearce (6), Alex Withers (6), John Taylor (6), John Wenham (6), Craig Martin (6), Nathan Fox (6), Tom Hudson (6) and Brett Caufield (7)

Match report courtesy of Mark Connolly and pictures from last season's meeting