Forest Green Rovers 2(1) v (1)2 Kidderminster Harriers

Football Conference National - The New Lawn - 7 April 2009

Attendance: 970

Individual Stats
Forest Green
Shots
Fouls
Off.
v Kidderminster
Shots
Fouls
Off.
 
On
Off
For
Ag
     
On
Off
For
Ag
 
Terry Burton 400300[25/1]Adam Bartlett 50(3)0000
Jonathan Smith 501130[11/21]Keith Lowe 600000
Paul Stonehouse 62(2)0200[3]Lee Baker 500000
Mark Preece 500100[15/18]Martin Riley 500030
Lee Ayres 500130[24/5]Mark Creighton 500110
Lee Fowler 500110[16/20]Dean Bennett 500210
Paul Lloyd 500000[27/16]Martin Brittain 611101
Darren Jones 500050[4/26]Chris McPhee 700310
David Brown 502111[26/11]Justin Richards 400202
Andy Mangan 611200[9]Matt Barnes-Homer 601251
Conal Platt 710100[10]Russ Penn 600410
Adriano Rigoglioso 51(1)0000[7/6]Luke Jones 500000
Ben Ashford     [14/7]Stefan Moore 610010
Kaid Mohamed 500020[17/8]Darryl Knights     
Curtis McDonald     [18/14]Brian Smikle 500000
Tom Pass     [31/25]Michael Carr     
Team Stats
  Fouls Conceded Offside Corners Shots On Shots off
Forest Green151554
Kidderminster134322
GOALS
Forest Green Kidderminster
40Conal Platt 30Martin Brittain  
77Andy Mangan  88Stefan Moore  
Formations
Forest Green
  Burton  
SmithPreece AyresStonehouse
     
LloydJones FowlerPlatt
     
 Brown Mangan 
Kidderminster
  Bartlett  
LoweRiley CreightonBaker
     
BrittainMcPhee BennettPenn
     
 Richards Barnes-Homer 
SUBSTITUTIONS
Forest Green Kidderminster
46  Smith to right central midfield, Jones to right back.41 RichardsNow 4-4-1.
56MohamedLloydMohamed to right midfield.74SmikleBrittainSmikle to left midfield, Penn to right midfield.
85RigogliosoBrownRigoglioso to striker.82 RileyNow 3-4-1.
    83JonesPennJones to left central defender, Creighton to central defender, Lowe to right central defender, McPhee to right midfield, Bennett to central midfield.
    83MooreBakerMoore to striker.  Now 3-3-2
BOOKINGS
Forest Green Kidderminster
Ayres 41 Foul  Riley 79 Foul
Riley 82 Foul
Richards 41 Violent Conduct
Riley 82 Persistent Misconduct
Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire)
Match Report by St@tto

Controversy abounded as Harriers stretched their unbeaten run to ten games despite having two players, and the manager, sent-off in a stormy game at Forest Green.

Playing against a team that they have not beaten on their own patch in a league game Harriers started brightly, continuing from where they had left of against Stevenage at the weekend.  Martin Brittain, restored to the starting line-up after his match-winning performance coming on from the bench  in the last game, went close to opening the scoring after just 15 minutes with a free-kick from 30 yards out that went narrowly wide of Terry Burton's right-hand post.

The next quarter of an hour was quite scrappy but Harriers were on top, knocking the ball around quite well on a difficult, bumpy, surface.  The opening goal came on the half-hour mark; Russ Penn picked up the ball on the left and made a urging run through the home defence before slipping it out wide to Matt Barnes-Homer who cut it back towards the far post where Brittain, arriving late, lashed it past Burton into the bottom corner of the net.

The first controversial incident came six minutes before the break with Rovers' equaliser.  The ball was knocked forward for Andy Mangan to chase, the Forest Green leading scorer appeared to be well offside as he broke clear but the flag stayed down, he was tackled as he shaped to shoot and the ball ran free to Conal Platt who was left with an easy tap in to level the scores.  Shortly before the interval there was more controversy as Harriers were reduced to ten men; former Harrier Lee Ayres brutally hacked down Justin Richards who foolishly reacted to the challenge, thrusting his head towards Ayres' face.  Ayres went down like a sack of spuds,exacerbating Richards' needless intervention and the referee had no choice but to send the striker off.  Ayres received just a yellow card for his attack.

After the break the home team went close to taking the lead when Darren Jones got free on the right but his low cross towards the near post was scooped over the bar by David Brown.  The same player wasted another good chance in similar circumstances later on.  At the other end Brittain played on Barnes-Homer on the left but his shot on the turn went wide of the far post.

Fourteen minutes from the end Rovers took the lead; a needlessly conceded free-kick was taken quickly, knocked out to the left wing and crossed into the goalmouth where Mangan beat Adam Bartlett with a glancing header into the far corner.  More controversy arrived soon afterwards; Martin Riley was shown the yellow card for a foul on Mangan on 79 minutes and then three minutes later Mangan threw himself to the floor in the most theatrical manner as he ran past Riley.  Instead of booking Mangan for diving, however, referee David Coote was suckered by his antics and instead showed the card to Riley, sending-him off to join Richards.  Manager Mark Yates was then ordered from the touchline as a result of his protestations.

Harriers showed how great the team spirit and confidence levels are in the squad at the moment in the closing minutes; despite their two-man handicap they kept playing, looking for an equaliser, and two minutes from time they were rewarded.  Mark Creighton's pass found substitute Stefan Moore who hit a speculative shot on the turn from quite wide on the left that deceived Burton in the home goal and crept inside the far post to spark an epic, bench-clearing, celebration that saw most of the players on the pitch, plus the subs and management team spring down to the touchline to pile on top of Moore.