Kiddy 0 RDFC 0
Kidderminster Harriers 0 Rushden and Diamonds 0
Rushden picked up a valuable point at Aggborough on Friday night, but after a very positive first half showing, and a late penalty call, there is some disappointment they do not travel back to Northamptonshire with all three points.
Manager Hart again made changes that will have surprised the 213 travelling fans, with Marcus Kelly restored to the side in favour of Dave Savage, and Daniel Chillingworth preferred to Tyrone Berry. Berry and Savage were joined on the bench by Danny Crane, Leo Fortune-West and Greg Pearson, in his first appearance in a match squad this season.
Kidderminster made several changes in an effort to win their first home point of the season, with recent loanee Iyseden Christie returning to the club to lead the line in a 4-5-1 formation.
Diamonds took the field for the warm up in their blue strip – no longer seen as jinxed after the win at Southport last weekend.
The Aggborough pitch was in superb condition, so there was every opportunity to play a passing game. The 213 Diamonds fans had plenty of room occupying the width of the terrace behind the goal, plus a bank of seats a third the length of the ground.
Diamonds kicked off, attacking the home end, with Chilli starting well forward in an initial 4-3-3 formation, but this often morphed into a midfield diamond with Jacko and Rankine using their pace up front.
Kiddy started quite sharply, and a clumsy sandwich between Ashton and Shaw on Christie saw a free kick in a dangerous position, with Harkness hitting a shot just wide. A further Kiddy chance fell to Smikle on the edge of the area but he hit his shot well over.
Diamonds then took control for the majority of the first half, starting with good play from Jacko winning RDFC the first corner, but a “planned move” failed to result in a threat on goal. This quickly became the story of the half – with Diamonds winning many corners especially as a result of the willing running of Jacko and Rankine, but the vast majority resulted in either a short move where the ball didn’t reach the box, or Marcus Kelly hitting the corner straight to Scott Bevan.
The most dangerous of the eight corners Diamonds won in the first half were the two taken by Chilli on the left – the first being flicked on, and having to be headed off the line, and the second resulting in the one fumble of the night from Bevan, although he collected it on his second attempt.
Even Glenn Wilson got in on the act, as his long throw ended up in Bevan’s arms.
Hope and Hatswell were dominant in defence, and both were also proving to be key playmakers, hitting long balls towards the corners of reliable quality for Jacko and Ranks to chase.
On 29 minutes a Kiddy break saw Eyre leap to stop a through ball reaching Christie, and he was forced to palm the ball outside his area, and then as he rushed outside the area to try to retrieve it we saw an outrageous dive by Christie over Nicky’s legs, resulting in a deserved booking for the Kiddy striker.
This was quickly followed by one of several great Jacko cameos of the game – this one a turn and dribble, but he tried to walk it into the net, giving Bevan a chance to clear up.
Although RDFC were playing a lot of long balls, many were into space, and on 38 minutes a foul on Chilli resulted in a freekick 40 yards out, which Kelly threaded through the defence for Watson to run on to – and he only narrowly failed to reach it.
A brave challenge by Tom Shaw to win a great header was unfairly punished by the referee. Sedgemore’s pace was looking to be Kiddy’s greatest threat as we reached the 40 minute mark. Penn tried another shot from long range which didn’t trouble Eyre.
Only 1 minute of injury time was played – and that looked generous. A good turn and shot by Rankine in this period was narrowly high and wide.
Half-Time: Kiddy 0 RDFC 0
Whilst Diamonds had much the better of the first half, as they had done at Southport a week ago, there was disappointment that so many corners have been squandered, with only really the two taken by Chilli looking threatening – one cleared off the line, and the other fumbled but reclaimed by Bevan.
A lot of the threat came from long balls from Hope and Hatswell, well placed into space.
Second Half
Both sides were unchanged for the start of the second half, and as with the Southport game, Diamonds came up against a far more determined opposition after the break. Kiddy starting winning and taking dangerous free-kicks and corners, and their delivery was much, much better than we had seen from the Diamonds.
On 47 minutes Kiddy won a soft free-kick from an innocuous looking Kelly challenge, which deflected off the wall for a corner, cleared by Chilli. Shortly after a Kiddy free kick was allowed to run right through the area, and was only narrowly cleared by a defence close to panic for the first time this evening.
On 52 minutes a high challenge by Ashton earned a warning from the ref, and the free kick gave a great chance to Smikle, who somehow screwed the ball backwards, rather than towards the goal, and a subsequent corner was also dangerous as Penn blazed over. A decent diving header by Blackwood on 54 mins also looked dangerous as Kiddy were finally starting to look threatening.
On 57 minutes we had the first substitution as Kiddy brought on Luke Reynolds for Jamie McClen. Reynolds looked quite sharp up front, and he had Kiddy’s best chance of the game on 77 minutes, as Watson missed his challenge and left him clean through, but Eyre was quick to close him down and clear the danger. Kiddy continued to show adventure with Dean Sturridge replacing a tiring Christie.
The Diamonds fans had been chanting for Tyrone Berry for some while, but the first change had to wait until 80 minutes with Greg Pearson replacing Tom Shaw, with Dave Savage replacing Chilli on 84 minutes, shortly after Michael Rankine had his best chance of the game, when Greg Pearson laid the ball off to him, but a well struck shot ended up safely in the goalies arms.
Finally on 87 minutes Tyrone Berry was readied, but another Jacko shot was high and wide whilst he was waiting. On 88 minutes he replaced Jacko – a clear contender for Man of the Match, with a performance that just needed to be rounded off with a goal.
Just as the game seemed to be heading for the 0-0 result that would have been seen as a fair result at that stage, the main incident of the match occurred right on the 90 minute mark. One of Dave Savage’s trademark flailing runs had seem him get right through the defence to the byline, only 5 yards wide of the goal. A well struck cross hit Stuart Whitehead on the other side of the goal. It clearly struck his arm, but referee Mo Matadar waved away the Diamonds fans claims for what looked a clear penalty. Matadar had had an excellent game, easily the best referee Diamonds had seen this season, but it will be for this controversy that his contribution to this game is remembered.
The 3 minutes of injury time passed without further incident, although a Kiddy corner had to be well cleared by Greg Pearson, and although honours were probably even over the 90 minutes, in a game that lacked quality, especially with respect to dead ball opportunities, it will be the turned down penalty claim that will be remembered most from this game.
Full Time: Kiddy 0 RDFC 0
Teams:
Kidderminster Harriers
1 Scott Bevan, 2 Jeff Kenna, 3 Jonny Harkness, 5 Mark Creighton, 6 Stuart Whitehead (Cpt), 7 Jake Sedgemore, 10 Jamie McClen (sub Reynolds 57), 16 Russell Penn, 18 Brian Smikle, 22 Iyseden Christie (sub Sturridge 80)
Subs Not Used: Hurren, Taylor, Russell
Rushden and Diamonds
1 Nicky Eyre, 3 Paul Watson, 5 Chris Hope, 6 Wayne Hatswell, 2 Glenn Wilson, 4 Jon Ashton, 18 Tom Shaw (sub Greg Pearson 80), 11 Marcus Kelly, 10 Daniel Chillingworth (Sub Dave Savage 84), 12 Simeon Jackson (Sub Tyrone Berry 88), 8 Michael Rankine
Subs Not Used: Crane, Fortune-West
Referee: Mo Matadar from Lancashire.
Reporters MoM – Wayne Hatswell – a tower of strength against his old club.
Match attendance 1850 – with 213 away fans.
For the latest betting odds visit Labrookes for live in game betting. |
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