Kidderminster Harriers Reserves 3(0) v (0)0 Stafford Rangers Reserves

A strong Harriers side cruised to victory over Stafford Rangers but it was the long-awaited appearance of Iyseden Christie and Reuben Hazell in a red shirt that sparked most interest.

The Harriers starting eleven included nine players from the first team squad and introduced two trialists - Adam Holtham and Michael Alexis who both acquitted themselves well.  Being such a strong side Harriers dominated the game from the start and created chance after chance; they should have won by a far greater margin.  In the early stages Mark Rawle was involved in most Harriers attacks, clearly trying to impress enough to force his way into the first team, and in the first quarter of an hour he had gone close twice with headers from Billy Jones corners.

Stafford rarely threatened, but did go close midway through the first half; Hazell lost possession to Simon James who set up Gary Fife, his lob hit the bar and came back to Richard Miller who headed wide.  soon after Christie started a move picking out Ian Foster on the right wing, his cross to the near post was met by Christie who had continued his run but his glancing header went wide of the far post.

In the closing minutes of the first half Jimmi-Lee Jones, on as a sub for the injured Rawle, turned a wayward Alexis shot goalwards but was unfortunate to see it cleared off the line.  At the other end a swift counter-attack left Byron Benton in front of goal but he snatched at his shot and it flew out of the stadium.

After the break Harriers needed just two minutes to take the lead; Mark Bailey fouled Christie 25 yards out and Billy Jones curled the free-kick over the wall and into the top corner of the net.  Benton headed wide at the other end following a free kick from deep on the right by Nicholas Ferguson but Harriers were soon two up. Simon Russell fed the ball through the inside left channel to Jimmi-Lee Jones who cut inside and hit a blistering 25-yard shot into the roof of the net.

Harriers were comfortable by now and Alexis went close with a free header from Holtham's cross before he added the third just after the hour mark.  Christie did well to keep the ball in on the left, his first cross was charged down but he did better with the second attempt, chipping it to the far post where Alexis headed in from close range.  Stafford's challenge was over now and Harriers were able to enjoy themselves and continued to create chances, by the end of the game they had had 29 shots at goal.  Still without threatening Rangers kept going to the end, Alex Gibson fired over the bar from long range and in the last few minutes Miller finally called Daniel Lewis into action to make a couple of saves.

Harriers could have had more, Holtham set Jimmi-Lee Jones clear on goal with a defence splitting pass but the striker took too long in picking his spot and Elliot Richards was able to save and when the ball was played back in Russell set up Jamie Gleeson who hit a shot straight at the keeper.  The lively Jimmi-Lee Jones went close again, picking up the ball deep on the right he ran past most of the Stafford defence towards the left wing before dragging his shot wide across the face of goal.  There was no further score but Harriers will be pleased with the performances of both Christie and Hazell who both managed to get through the whole 90 minutes and will soon be knocking on the first team door.