Northants Combination League
Premier Division
Saturday 15th August 2026
Raunds Town (1) – (4) Harborough Town Under 21’s
Report – Jonathan Hulls
Harborough Town U21s made the perfect start to their new campaign, showing character to come from behind and overcome a red card on their way to an impressive 4-1 victory over Raunds Town.
Raunds got off to the perfect start, opening the scoring inside the first minute following a moment of miscommunication at the back. The early goal gave the hosts the advantage almost immediately and left the Young Bees with work to do from the opening stages.
Harborough responded brilliantly to the setback, quickly settling into the game and taking control of possession. The Young Bees began to dictate the tempo and enjoyed more of the ball as they looked for a route back into the contest.
Their pressure eventually paid off when Chulu Johnson picked out Shaan Virk, who calmly fired into the bottom corner to level the scores. It was a composed finish from Virk and a deserved equaliser following Harborough’s positive response to falling behind.
The momentum continued to build, and the Young Bees soon completed the turnaround. Jarred Rawlins played Archie O’Donnell through on goal, giving him the opportunity to put Harborough ahead. Archie made no mistake, keeping his composure and slotting the ball home to register his first goal of the new campaign and put the Young Bees 2-1 ahead.
Having fallen behind inside the opening minute, Harborough had responded impressively to turn the game around and establish a lead. However, the contest then took another twist as goalkeeper Charlie Hobbs was shown a red card following a last-man challenge, leaving the Young Bees to play the remainder of the game with 10 men.
With no goalkeeper available, Corey Birch stepped up for his side and put the gloves on for the remainder of the game as Harborough were forced to reorganise following the dismissal.
Despite being down to 10 men, the Young Bees showed tremendous character and refused to simply sit back and protect their advantage. Harborough continued to push forward whenever the opportunity presented itself and looked to add to their lead despite the numerical disadvantage.
Their efforts were rewarded when Oliver Price played Zak Gillespie through on goal. Zak kept his composure when the opportunity arrived, finding the finish to extend Harborough’s advantage to 3-1 and give the 10 men some valuable breathing space.
The Young Bees continued to show their attacking intent as the game progressed, with Gillespie once again at the heart of the action. Lovell Edwards delivered a low cross into the area, where Zak was on hand to finish and make it 4-1.
The goal rounded off an excellent afternoon personally for Gillespie, who completed his brace and put the finishing touch on an impressive comeback from the Young Bees.
Having conceded inside the opening minute and later been reduced to 10 men, Harborough showed tremendous character to respond to both setbacks and secure a 4-1 victory, providing a positive start to the new campaign.
Head Coach Josh Unsworth said following the victory:
“Thrilled to start the new campaign in this fashion. Really proud of the boys. We’ve set the tone to kick on our season now.”