Enterprise National League North
Monday 31st August, 2026
Harborough Town 2 – 1 Marine
(Osborne 41’, Malone 84’) (Doyle 13’)
Report – James Lee
Photo – RB Media
Man of the Match – Devon Kelly-Evans
Attendance – 1255
Bees bounce back to beat Marine 2-1 courtesy of a late Paul Malone winner. This came after suffering their first defeat of the season last time out away against Hednesford Town. Manager Mitch Austin made three changes to the line-up from Friday’s defeat, with Liam Dolman, Silvio Bello and Dempsey Arnott-John coming in, and Rory McAuley and Eliot Putman dropping to the bench. Riley O’Sullivan wasn’t in the squad, so youngster Archie O’Donnell took a spot on the bench.
The game got underway in a sun-drenched Beehive, and Marine had the first chance, winning a free kick that Liam Dolman cleared away. Harborough had their first chance of the game in the eighth minute when Connor Kennedy battled to win the ball and played it to Prince Mancinelli, who had a shot from the edge of the box that just went wide. George Carline had his first chance to launch one of his long throws into the box, which Marine goalkeeper Jack McIntyre missed, and it bounced through to Britt Assombalonga, whose header went just over the bar.
Marine took the lead in the 13th minute from a free kick won after goalkeeper Elliot Taylor was adjudged to have carried the ball outside his box. The defender curled it through bodies into the bottom left corner. Marine’s George Kattah found himself running in behind the Harborough backline, but Taylor made himself big and made the save in the 21st minute. After 15 minutes of battling in the middle of the park for both teams, it was Marine that made a chance when Kattah got in behind again but put his shot wide of the net.
Harborough found the equaliser in the 42nd minute after Carline whipped a corner, which was headed clear but only as far as Sam Osborne, who hit his shot through the crowd, and it found the back of the net, sending the Beehive wild. The Bees had a corner in added time of the first half, which Devon Kelly-Evans delivered and Britt Assombalonga headed it wide, and with that the referee blew the half-time
whistle.
There were no changes for either side at half-time, and similarly, the match’s intensity picked up where it left off, with both sides trying to break through the back lines.
The first chance of the second half came for the Bees, who had the ball up the left wing. It was Assombalonga who took a shot that was deflected, but Mariner’s goalkeeper McIntyre got down to his right-hand side to make the save. Marine had their first chance of the second half in the 57th minute as Fin Sinclair-Smith ran up the left wing and hit a shot which Taylor comfortably saved. Sinclair-Smith got in behind a minute later and forced a magnificent double save by Taylor, who did brilliantly to get himself up to save the second effort from the rebound.
The Bees had a chance in the 67th minute, and it came from another Carline long throw aimed towards Alex Morris, who made his 150th appearance for the Bees. He nodded it on, causing pinball to erupt between players from both sides, and the referee blew for a free-kick and gave Morris a card to mark the occasion; unfortunately for him, it was a yellow one.
The pressure continued for the Bees two minutes later as Silvio Bello beat his man wonderfully and put it across the face of goal towards Assombalonga, whose header hit the post. It was all Harborough as we entered the final 15 minutes; a flurry of corners ended with a free kick just outside the box taken by substitute Michael Jacobs, but the wall did its job blocking the shot.
After nearly ten minutes of sustained pressure, Harborough Town took the lead in the 85th minute, and it was substitute Paul Malone who found the back of the net five minutes after coming on; he got on the end of captain Connor Kennedy’s cross, smartly flicking it past the goalkeeper.
The fourth official indicated four minutes of added time; two of these were taken up by consecutive throw-ins for the Bees up the right wing, and in the final two Marine pushed, attempting to find an equaliser. Still, they weren’t able to get a shot off and worried Taylor, who ended the game with a long goal kick simultaneously with the full-time whistle.
Manager Mitch Austin was pleased with the result post-match; he said: “We don’t need to get into the details of how or why we’ve won, but we’ve won, and that’s the most pleasing thing for me today, certainly after defeat on Bank Holiday Friday.”
Harborough Town (4-3-3): Taylor; Carline, Dolman (McAuley 81’), Morris, Bello; Kennedy,
Mancinelli (Newton 89), Kelly-Evans; Osborne (Jacobs 70’), Assombalonga (Malone 80’),
Arnott-John (Powell 60’). Subs not used: Putman, O’Donnell.
Marine: McIntyre, Abankwah, Drysdale, Wardle, Doyle, Hilton, Darby, McDonald (Kouyate
70’), Sinclair-Smith, Kattah (Potter 60’), Newell (McAleny 77’). Subs not used: Barrett, Butler, Bairstow, Hodkin.
The Bees will hope to build on this win in their next game, as they travel to St James Park to take on Brackley Town on Saturday, 5th September 2026.