Leamington Youth 0(0) v (0)4 Kidderminster Harriers Youth

Harriers ended their three-game losing streak in the league with an eventually comfortable win over Leamington, four second half goals winning the game.

It seemed as though Harriers were going to stretch their winless streak at half time when the sides went in goalless although the visitors should really have had the game won by then.  It could have been different had Scott Eaton's second minute shot after being put in by Mitch Butler found the net instead of coming back off the post.  Leamington gave as good as they got in the first half, however, and only an excellently timed tackle from Alex Dawson prevented Mike Deas from firing them ahead midway through the half.

Chances continued to go begging as the half wore on; Ashley Walker headed weakly at goalkeeper Tom Heath from Ray Facey's right wing corner and Danny Upton blasted over the bar from 20 yards after Butler's run had been stopped by Luke Walker.  At the other end Barry Hobbins ran through the Harriers defence on the Leamington right before setting up Sean McCarthy whose shot was beaten away by Tom Harper at the near post.  Two minutes before the break Harriers best move almost broke the deadlock; Butler fed the ball to Upton who helped it on to Levi Chambers on the right, his shot was heading just inside the far post before Heath got his fingertips to it to push it away for a corner.

After the break Harriers needed less than a minute to open the scoring; substitute Nathan Walker received the ball in the inside right channel and lofted it over Heath into the far corner from outside the penalty area.  Four minutes later the result was settled when another FAcey corner found the head of Ashley Walker who this time made no mistake.  Harriers took control of the game now and added a third just after the hour mark, a free kick from the left caused a scramble in the goalmouth and Butler stabbed the ball home from close range.  Minutes later the same player made it four, firing in from a narrow angle after Eaton's shot had been blocked but not cleared.

Eaton could have made it 5-0 late on; picked out by a long pass from Karl Hooper he was clear on goal but Heath got his fingers to the shot and tipped it over the bar.  In the last couple of minutes Butler was denied a hat-trick when, after being set up by Dave Davis, his shot at the near post hit the bar and rebounded to safety.