Harborough Town Reserves manager Tony Sansome:
Harborough Town Res 4 Newport Pagnell Res 4
“If you’d have offered me a draw before the game I’d probably have sn…apped your hands off, missing an entire back four and having to put one together from lads that had never played together was always going to be challenging especially against a Pagnell side who are always decent going forwards. We were missing nine players in total, plus a sub who just never made it owing to work commitments.
But we started like an express train going 4-1 ahead on 23 minutes. Josh King heading home on 4 minutes, Pagnell equalising on 7 and we took the lead again on 18 with a great finish by the skilful Jay Ironmonger. A minute later it was 3-1 when King capitalised on a Defense error to score his 22nd of the season. Our 4th Came on 23 when Alfie Harris hit a shot that deflected past the keeper. We really should have made it 5-1 when King missed when clean through, minutes later Pagnell had pulled one back just before half time with a through ball that was missed by several of our players and latched onto well.
Whilst I was pleased with the first half and it really should have been more, the second half couldn’t have been more different. We never looked like scoring and I think that was the most disappointing thing for us. Yes our game management was poor but we have a very young side and that will happen sometimes. Pagnell scored again on 54 and then largely dominated the remainder of the half, although we had opportunities on the counter our decision making was poor. Ben Dearsley made some great saves and we thought we were just about going to hold on when they scored direct from a free kick on 92 but it was no more than we deserved. Teenager defenders Mark Bodey and Ben Bekavac made their first starts in senior footballer and Tom Ramm made his first appearance in adult football. The experience will hold them in good stead.
Good luck to Pagnell for the remainder of the season.”