Harborough Town Turn On The Style In Strong Win Over Northampton ON Chenecks
17th November 2018
After a disappointing defeat last week to high-flying Holbeach United, Harborough Town were determined to turn positive performances into points. It was imperative Harborough picked up some points and finding them against fellow strugglers Northampton ON Chenecks would seem the perfect place to start. With just 2 points separating the sides in the table whoever won this game would find themselves in a much prettier position.
It took a mere 3 minutes for this classy Harborough Town team to open the scoring account. The pacey Alex Morris managed to slide a low ball into the box, which found its way to the ever-prolific Dan Forbes whose first-time effort was fired into the bottom left corner. Chenecks showed their first signs of threat when a fine curled ball in from Ross Garlic found a leaping Michael Ogilvie, but Ogilvie’s glancing header wasn’t enough to get it on target. Within 15 minutes, Chenecks looked like they had the equaliser: a good cross was well cleared by Alex Morris, the dangerous return ball in found Ash Ogden at the back, post but he managed to head it into the side netting. Dan Forbes came close to netting his second, with a smart corner routine seeing Tony Bartlett deliver a strong cross into the near post, and Forbes’ clever run allowed him to flick the ball goal-bound but had to watch it agonisingly graze the bar on its way over. Chenecks had another golden opportunity to level the score when a long free kick fell to Joe Lewington at the back post, who managed to send his snapshot sailing over. On the half-hour mark, Harborough doubled their lead through Harry Henbury. Dan Forbes’ passionate work-rate managed to keep the ball from going out for a goal kick, before finding Harry Henbury in space; mirroring last week, Henbury took the ball inside before thumping the ball beyond Jack Taylor, who could do nothing to stop his net bulging once more. Harborough went into the half 2 goals to the good, they could have been more with the quality of football and brilliant chances they were creating; likewise though, Chenecks could have been in it but awful finishing and a strong Harborough defensive effort meant otherwise.
Chenecks came out a determined team in the second half, and arguably should have got one back within the first 5 minutes: Michael Ogilvie smashed an effort against the post, with the rebound falling to Brandon Williams who managed to fire the ball over the bar from 6-yards out. Aaron Preston responded for Harborough, his speculative effort too rattling off the woodwork and out. Williams again looked to find a response for Chenecks, making space for himself on the edge of the box before his low effort was well taken by a solid Glen Giles. Josh Walsh, on for his debut today, almost scored from an exceptional strike when he hit Alex Morris’ lay off first time, but Jack Taylor got a strong hand to it and put it behind for a corner. The corner itself was brilliantly driven in by Tony Bartlett, finding Preston in space in the 6-yard box, but his header found itself wide of the mark. Henbury looked hungry for his second, his effort to get into space down the left when Preston found himself 1-on-2 deep in the Chenecks half was exceptional; Preston found Henbury whose powerful effort was well stopped by Taylor. With 10 minutes to go, it seemed as if Alex Morris was to net Harborough’s 3rd of the day – just yards out and a driven ball in finding him perfectly, it seemed impossible to miss, but his sliced effort rolled just wide. It did not matter though, as Harborough’s 2 goals and resilient performance kept all 3 points in Harborough.
Harborough continued their quality performances of late, and this time getting their just rewards: 2 brilliant goals and a clean sheet to boot. A great day all round for the first team, and if their form continues, The Bees have a bright few weeks ahead of them. Rising above Chenecks in the table, Harborough now look forward to welcoming Newport Pagnell Town next weekend, and will look to put in another brilliant performance and take away another 3 points.