Kidderminster Harriers Youth 3(1) v (0)1 Castle Vale Youth

Harriers' fifth straight win in the league took them to the top of the table, leapfrogging over Nuneaton to become the third leader of the league of the week.

A dominant performance took Harriers comfortably past Castle Vale although with the amount of possession that they had, particularly in the first half, they should have won by more.  The ball was in the back of the visitors' net after just 7 minutes but the goal was not allowed to stand as Alex Francis-Greer fouled keeper Gavin Rickus as he headed the ball in.  The opening goal came shortly afterwards, Shawn Salmon broke through the Vale defence on the left and scored with a low shot into the far corner.

The first half was all Harriers and could have gone further ahead when Francis-Greer headed Luke Astley's cross against the bar and then later in the half the lively Tom Byrne saw his 25-yard shot held by Rickus at the second attempt.  In the last minute of the half Byrne went close again when he took the ball round Rickus only to shoot into the side netting.

The frame of the goal came to the visitors' rescue again just four minutes into the second half; Byrne, again, got away on the right and his cross to the near post was headed against the bar by Francis-Greer.  Byrne's performance was rewarded after 53 minutes when he fired Harriers further ahead with a well-taken shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Harriers' celebrations were cut short 45 seconds later when keeper Thomas Harper was caught out by Ashley Crossling who took the ball away from him and fired into the empty net.  The second half followed much the same pattern as the first with Harriers on top but unable to capitalise on their possession although they did manage 15 shots at goal to the visitors' one.

Rickus pulled off a fine save to deny Troy Manning who went close with a dipping 30 yard shot and with ten minutes left in the game he denied Byrne from close range after Scott Eaton had created the chance.  A quickly taken corner by Byrne, short to Astley, led to the latter crossing for Eaton to head against the bar, the third time the woodwork saved the visitors.  Four minutes from the end the game was made safe when Manning slipped the ball through the middle to Eaton on the edge of the penalty area who turned a struck a precise shot into the bottom corner of the net.