Harriers ended their two-game losing streak with a point against in form Oxford, and, had Bo Henriksen not
missed an 84th minute penalty, they could have taken all three.
Ian Britton carried out his threat to make changes to the team and Sam Shilton, Dean Bennett and captain
Sean Flynn were all demoted to the substitutes bench with Sean Parrish, Graham Ward and new signing Adam Murray
coming into a new-look midfield. Scott Stamps had recovered from his ankle injury and continued in the
defence.
Within seconds of the kick off Harriers came close to taking the lead, Ward found Henriksen in the inside right
channel and he flashed a shot narrowly wide of the far post. The game didn't take off from this promising
start, however, and became bogged down in midfield. Harriers knocked the ball around in a much more promising
fashion in the previous two games but again there was little end product. Oxford weren't much better themselves,
especially considering their position in the league and their unbeaten start to the season.
There was not much more goalmouth action throughout the rest of the half and it was not until six minutes before
the interval that there was another clear cut goalscoring opportunity when Adam Murray fired a 25-yard shot
over the bar.
After the break the game livened up a little, Harriers were first to threaten after 51 minutes when Stamps
brought the ball out of defence and found Murray who turned and fired a 25-yard shot that Andy Woodman did
well to beat away but there was no Harriers player following up to capitalise. At the other end a sharp
interchange of passes put Scott McNiven in a good position but he blazed his shot over the bar. As the
game wore on Oxford manager Ian Atkins became more animated on the touch line urging his players on and with
13 minutes left they almost took the lead; Matt Robinson got away on the left and crossed to the far post
where an unmarked Steve Basham rose and headed the ball goalwards, fortunately for Harriers his aim was off
and it went back across the face of goal and wide. Two minutes later Derek Townley lashed a shot across
the face of the goal and wide of Stuart Brock's right-hand post.
The opening goal came within a minute and it was the visitors who scored it. United attaced on the right
and the ball into the penalty area was not dealt with very well by Harriers and a poor clearance fell to
substitute Mark Rawle on the left corner of the penalty area who turned well and curled his shot into the far
corner of the net. Within two minutes Harriers were level, the lively Murray fed the ball through the
defence towards Henriksen but John Ashton stretched out a leg to intercept, the loose ball only went as far
as Harriers sub John Williams who drilled it back into the goalmouth where stand-in captain Adam Willis turned
it in from close range.
Two minutes later Harriers had a golden opportunity to take the lead, Henriksen was brought down by Jon
Ashton and referee Trevor Parkes had no hesitation in pointing to the spot for a penalty. The normally
reliable Henriksen stepped up to take the kick but unsually struck it wide of Woodman's left hand post. With
three minutes left on the clock Harriers again went close to stealing the points, John Williams found Kenny
Coleman in space but his well-struck shot ws tipped over by Woodman. From the resulting corner Willis
got a good header in but Woodamn dived to his left to grab the ball and end Harriers' threat.
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