retired_destiny1124

12.1.08
Harrow Hill (0) Scunthorpe (1) FA Trophy 3rd round
I was happy with how our 2nd line played in this match, but Michael Peacock was a bit too much for us as he stopped a half dozen excellent scoring chances as Scunthorpe broomed us out of the FA Trophy tourney 1-0. The lone goal in the match came after Daniel Austen made a sensational save in a one-on-one with Neil Bilham, but Paul Moss and Mark Berry didn't clear away the loose ball and Mark Williams swooped in to push it into the net. We came close to evening the match, but couldn't quite get it done as Peacock's last save on Adam Davies rolled along the line, but was cleared away by Richard Gough.

retired_destiny1124

16.1.08
Harrow Hill (0) Bradford PA (0)
To say I was disappointed with our play in this match is an understatement- as the players found out after the match. We didn't play anything close to the type of match we planned. Even after their forward David Davis earned his 2nd yellow card early in the first half, we just weren't moving the ball. There was no crisp passing, the players not on the ball were just standing around and it was immensely frustrating. Despite waving them to pick up the tempo, we played dumb with the ball the entire match- players keeping the ball on their foot (and too often losing it on tackles) instead passing up the pitch. No matter my adjustments during the match, we couldn't break out of our disinterested play. When Adam Davies mouthed off to the ref to earn his 2nd yellow (he had come on for injured Richard Langley), we lost whatever momentum we had. It was a bad match in my book, despite the draw we gained as a result.

retired_destiny1124

19.1.08
We completed our transfer purchase of James Biggins from Nottingham Forest for 4K. Biggins is a 22 year old rightback. Why another rightback? Well, Shaun Clohessy has done well this season, but Mark Berry appears to lack the quality for the step up in competition. Biggins is more talented- overall- than Clohessy and though I am starting to get seriously over my weekly wage budget again- I am going to add any quality player that I can for modest prices. It is just part of becoming a better club and we need to add any quality players we can, since we remain an obscure semi-pro club in the eyes of most players.

***

19.1.08
Canvey Island (1) Harrow Hill (1)
Another match that we appeared to have won- and we gave it away with bad defensive coverage as they scored a dramatic equalizer. Richard Langley had scored in the first half and since we weren't playing particularly well with the ball, I chose to go to a more defensive formation in the second half. It was working a charm, until the late moments when my midfielders chose to go for glory, instead of stay home defensively. They left the backline with an odd man break and Brett Pittman put the ball just past David Green to ruin a fine match on his part as Canvey Island salvaged a 1-1 draw. We have to play better in the late stages, but I also have to remember how young this club is and that they have to learn from matches like this that frustrate me to no end.

retired_emsta12

Do I hear play-off places calling?

Excellent story, KUTGW.

retired_destiny1124

Thanks Simply

***

21.1.08
Another satisfying signing off the free transfer list has joined us, when Craig Kelly agreed to a contract with us over Stalybridge and Gloucester. Kelly is an 18 year old FLC who came up through the Liverpool youth system and was released before the season. I had tried to sign him earlier, but he wasn't interested. This time he was and he finally gives me another leftfooter to alternate with Richard Langley up front.

***

26.1.08
Harrow Hill (4) Margate (1)
It was nice to see us back playing the way I hoped we would as we dismantled Margate 4-1 at Larksfield Road. After missing a couple early chances, Steven O'Donnell netted his 1st goal of the season when he deflected a short cross from Dean Morgan past David Clarke. Darren Pratley put us up 2-0 when he finished off an excellent passing sequence by driving a low scorching shot past Clarke. It was Pratley again for his 2nd of the match and 5th of the season when he boomed a 30 yard shot off Greg Young and past the off balance Clarke. We moved up 4-0 at halftime when O'Donnell was held in the area and Carl Laurie notched his 1st goal of the season as he converted the penalty kick. We spent the second half trying out a new formation and didn't really generate any more good chances. We yielded a consolation goal when Pratley slightly deflected Robert McCormick's shot and it slipped past David Green to ruin his clean sheet. The bad news of the match was a late yellow card to Morgan, which means he will be suspended for our match at Mansfield against the first place club on Tuesday.

retired_destiny1124

26.1.08
With 14 matches to play, we look very good for the playoffs. Mansfield seems set to clinch the Conference title, unless we can slow them down. We trail 2nd place Bath by 4 points and are 11 points ahead of 6th place Exeter- which makes a playoff appearance a likelihood if we can just play well consistently through the stretch drive.

***

29.1.08
Mansfield (1) Harrow Hill (2)
If anyone was going to put the brakes on the runaway train of Mansfield, it was going to be us and we managed to edge them 2-1 at Field Mill. Our first goal came from Darren Pratley when he showed superb judgement in firing in a 25 yarder past Kevin Pilkington after beating David Mannix on the dribble. Ten minutes later it was Richard Langley taking full advantage of Pilkington's poor goal kick to step in front and race down before rocketing a shot past Pilkington inside the far right post for a dazzling individual effort. Though we had played very well, I switched to a more defensive formation and our coverage fell apart as we allowed Michael Turner to split two defenders and blast a shot past Ross Flitney from just inside the edge of the area midway through the second half. We survived a couple more close calls, but then they had to contend with Langley in the late stages as he never quit working and just missed twice in getting his 2nd of the match. The final whistle found me very relieved we had finished on top of the 2-1 scoreline.

retired_destiny1124

30.1.08
Ryan Ashington picked an unfortunate time to break his jaw. He will miss the next month of play and a key stretch in our season.

***

6.2.08
Harrow Hill (1) Carlisle (2)
We were all a bit stunned when Kevin Evans banked in a 30 yard free kick off the left post to hand us a bitter 2-1 loss in second half injury time. For 2/3 of the match we had played extremely well- dominating struggling Carlisle. We peppered Lee Ford with 18 shots in the match. We had taken the lead in the first half when Craig Kelly, making his debut, threaded a pass through to Jimmy Corbett and he had fired a shot into the left side of the net. There were numerous chances to increase the lead, but bad luck and good work from Ford left us unable to do so. They came back when Jamie Winter took advantage of inattentive work from Adrian Nevins to gain enough room to rifle a shot past David Green. We had more chances to retake the lead, but wound up an extremely disappointing loss to a club we should have beaten.

retired_destiny1124

9.2.08
Accrington (0) Harrow Hill (2)
We rebounded nicely with a strong effort against Accrington and Richard Langley's two goals were enough to earn us the win. Langley was a force up front the entire match for us. We took the lead when David Poole got free on the right side and blasted a shot that Jamie Young parried away, but the ball went right to unmarked Langley and he slashed it into the open net. Accrington came close to evening the match early in the second half, but Franklin Simek threw himself in front of a blast from Marvin Robinson and kept it out. It looked like we would clinch the match when Mike Harris was forced to pull Langley down in the area and earned a redcard and a penalty. Unfortunately, Simek was wide with the penalty kick and we still held only a one goal lead. We finally clinched the match when Jordan Fowler made a good pass into space and Langley ran it down and then slotted a shot past Young for his 2nd goal of the match and that made the final score 2-0.

retired_destiny1124

16.2.08
Harrow Hill (2) Scunthorpe (0)
Our Larksfield fans gave us a rousing standing ovation as we left the pitch after our 2-0 win over Scunthorpe. It was one of our best matches that we had played at home and the score could easily have been much worse- we outshot our visitors 25-5, but only managed to put 6 of our 25 on goal. Richard Langley scored both of our goals in the first half and both were on exceptionally fine passing among our midfield and forwards. Besides his 2 goals (his 1st was his 15th of the season), Langley missed a couple very good chances for the hat-trick. Dean Morgan and Darren Pratley also missed inches wide on scoring opportunities and Michael Peacock made a couple nice saves as well. Scunthorpe really only had two golden chances the entire match and missed both over the net as Ross Flitney put another clean sheet in the book.