Harborough Town 1
Hickey (65’)
Halesowen Town 1
Hickman (63’)
Hickman and Hickey score as Harborough and Halesowen share the spoils in a heavyweight clash at The Beehive, with both sides signalling their promotion credentials.
Full of confidence off the back of respective 3-0 away victories in midweek, both teams played out a tactical chess match, exhibiting high intensity, despite not producing many clear-cut chances.
James Taylor’s precision long balls from full-back paved the way for two half-chances, and Danny Newton came closest to breaking the deadlock with a powerful header that flew wide of the woodwork. At the other end, Kyle Finn and Jason Cowley looked the liveliest, linking up well to provide the Yeltz with their biggest attacking outlet.
Milan Butterfield and Todd Parker picked up bookings for late challenges as the first half progressed. The away side began dictating the tempo, moving the ball around with patience and looking to pick the lock, but Harborough’s mostly impenetrable defence stood firm, led by captain Liam Dolman and man of the match Alex Morris. The best chance of the half came when George Carline’s whipped ball across goal found the onrushing Newton, who couldn’t connect as well as he would have hoped.
The game sparked into life in the second half with a couple of Elliott Taylor distributions almost creating the opening goal, most notably when a mistimed interception by Ben Cassidy allowed Riley O’Sullivan to break through. The in-form forward drilled a low shot, inches past the post.
Eventually, the Yeltz made the breakthrough. A well-worked passage of play allowed Jak Hickman to find space and slot home calmly on 63 minutes, sending the away fans into jubilation.
The celebrations didn’t last long. Mere moments later, a surging run from Dempsey Arlott-John culminated in the winger picking out Newton, who spun his marker before laying it off to Brady Hickey to tuck away from close range, levelling the match and this time sending the home fans into pandemonium.
Both managers made multiple changes in personnel in search of a late winner, ultimately nullifying each other, tactically and physically, echoed by Halesowen Manager, Russell Penn asserting “we cancelled each other out, two good teams who will be right up there.”
No rest for Harborough, as they return to The Beehive on Tuesday night to take on newly promoted, high-flying Quorn, described by Bees Boss, Mitch Austin as, “an unbelievable team with a fantastic manager”, while Halesowen travel to Alvechurch.
MOTM: Alex Morris
Report: Ben Monti
Photo: RB Media
Attendence: 804
Match: Southern League Premier Central