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Owen Newitt

6th October, v Shrewsbury @ Aggborough

For Owen, the hunt for a further striker had occupied his thoughts for some time now and though the acquisition of Steve was welcome he was still looking for more talent. The need for a goal scoring player on a regular occurence was made painfully apparent in this defeat to Shrewsbury. John Thompson missed the match on Under 21 duty for Ireland as Craig returned, along with Nick Heath and Sam Shilton to the starting line up.

In pure possession and chances created Kidderminster came out well, almost on top but there was no end product. Nick Heath was the most persistent player and it was his desperate perseverance that gave hope of a breakthrough as he fired in some very decent shots on target, but none seriously troubled Lee Kendall in goal. When both Ian Foster and Mark Blake missing glaring chances after half an hour there was a deepening sense that Kidderminster would pay for that, and Ian Stevens duly obliged to put the Shrews ahead not long before half time.

In the second half, the front pair of Broughton and Foster continued to make little impact on the visitors defence as even the fans seemed to sense this was a complete off day for the team, with a few leaving ridiculously early. Despite the defence doing their job and the full backs at least trying to make enterprising runs, Owen knew it just wasn't happening for him today. Karl Murray's goal on 75 minutes confirmed the inevitable and it was a poor day all round at Aggborough.

Kidderminster 0 Shrewsbury 2 Stevens 39, Murray 75

4-4-2: Digby , Hinton, Stamps , Ayres, Smith ; Blake, Heath, Yates, Shilton (59Parrish); Foster, Broughton

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The defeat drew a great deal of criticism in the press for the lack of spark within the side and though Owen refuted it, putting it down to simply an off day against a geed up Shrewsbury Town - few people bought the excuse, and he returned to the striker market. Scouts John Wharton and Peter Dennis had returned from their trip to Scotland as requested, to check out St. Johnstone forward Paddy Connolly with a favourable review of the out of favour 31 year old, and after brief consultation with chairman Donald Smith made a bid. Elsewhere there were more loan hopeful bids, but only one coming to fruition as Steve Kabba of Crystal Palace arrived on a month's loan. The forward was fairly young but seemed talented.

Within a day and negotiations with St. Johnstone seemed to go fairly straightforward. Kidderminster had offered 110k, paid over a period of 6 months, before a demand for 120k was put forward. With the Chairman's blessing a bid of 180k was made - this time over 12 months, and with the Scottish First Division side agreeing to the terms, negotiations with the players' agent could begin. It would not be a deal done in time for the weekend trip to Wrexham, although he was around for the teams training practice on the Friday and whose contribution was to win the little penalty shoot out, and score an own goal in the 5 a sides at the end of play.

October 13th, Wrexham v Kidderminster Harriers @ The Racecourse

Facing a potentially testing trip to Wales for the next encounter, recent acquisition Steve Kabba made his debut in the starting line up, whilst Dean Bennett came in to replace the tired Nick Heath on the bench. Nick was dropped altogether in order to give him some proper rest. In the centre, replacing Lee Yates who had picked up a groin strain in training - sidelining him for two weeks would be John Thompson as Owen made a bold choice in testing his versatility in the middle of the park. Craig maintained his right back slot.

The match itself began at a helter skelter pace as Hector Sam and Paul Edwards carved out early openings in the Harriers defence within minutes, as sloppy play had Owen with his head in his hands already. They didn't break through which was a piece of fortune - and on nine minutes as Kidderminster began to stem the Wrexham tide, Dean Bennett moved a ball inside to Blake in midfield, and the experienced one lobbed over a player to John Thompson in the centre of the park, just out of the centre circle. In turn he moved it back down the right wing as a perfectly weighted ball fell into the run of Dean, and the midfielders low cross was met sharply by Sam Shilton at the near post who converted splendidly to hand the visitors the lead.

Owen was delighted with the goal, and for a couple of minutes after his team began to play their best football again, with sweeping passes and controlled play delighting the travelling hordes. Of course though their hosts were a very robust outfit themselves, and though in mid table at the present time they were still very strong in defence and fought back aggressively. After Steve Howard had headed another fine Bennett cross over the bar, Wrexham hit back immediately afterwards. Welsh striker Lee Jones was allowed time and space to run down the left side as Craig Hinton was caught napping, and a cross over saw Hector Sam plunder another goal for his side. It was a rare error for Craig but sadly a costly one, as scores were now back level.

Wrexham then returned to their fiery presence as Frazer Digby every penny of his wage that afternoon. Lee Jones hit the bar as he and Paul Edwards began to threaten to run the show in the latter stages, punctuated only by a good run from Dean Bennett was a top former for Kidderminster at that time. John Thompson was making little impression in the centre and only picked up a yellow card for a rash challenge on Edwards. However as it seemed as though 1-1 would be a handy half time scoreline, Owen scored a lucky break. In the 35th minute another deep ball from Bennett into the area found Mark Blake's head. His header was intercepted by Wrxham skipper Darren Ferguson's hand and it was a penalty though no card for Darren surprisingly. Steve Howard converted and suddenly the game had changed again.

At half time Owen withdrew Thommo who had been poor, bringing on Danny Williams in his place, and the youngster proved his worth in the centre with a very solid performance after that. Kidderminster began in the ascendancy in the second half full of confidence, and Steve Howard had further chances to extend the lead, one close range shot blocked, the other just wide as a vital third goal sought. Having not played that well overall being in the lead was a bonus for Owen but he knew Wrexham were a dangerous outfit, and further changes with a half hour to go helped freshen up and protect the slender advantage. Sean Parrish for Blake and Bo Henriksen for an ineffective Steve Kabba kept the tempo at a pace they were comfortable with and the hosts were forced to alter their tactics in a search for an equaliser. In the final five minutes there was a huge scare as central defender Brian Carey was left unmarked for a Lee Jones cross, but he couldn't find the net, pushing the ball inches past the left upright, and after that securing the points proved comfortable enough.

Wrexham 1 Sam 17 Kidderminster 2 Shilton 9, Howard pen 35

4-4-2: Digby , Hinton, Stamps , Ayres, Smith ; Blake (58Parrish) , Bennett, Thompson (46 Williams,) Shilton Kabba (Henriksen 58), Howard

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The match itself had been a huge relief for Owen. A win under tricky circumstances had prevented the Shrews loss from making any real mental impact on the players, as it proved the perfect tonic, even if the play hadn't been completely controlled through out. The win kept the side in the play off places, a fine start and though expectations were that a top half finish would suffice, everyone fans included hoped for better.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Third Division - Sunday 14th October 2001********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Rochdale 12 5 0 1 11 4 2 4 0 15 11 25 2nd Hull 12 5 0 1 14 6 3 0 3 9 7 24 3rd Southend 12 4 1 1 11 5 3 1 2 9 8 23 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Boston Utd 12 3 3 0 10 4 3 1 2 8 4 22 5th Oxford 12 4 1 1 13 7 2 2 2 7 7 21 6th Kidderminster 12 3 1 2 9 8 3 1 2 9 9 20 7th York 12 4 1 1 11 7 2 1 3 9 14 20 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8th Bristol Rovers 12 3 3 0 11 6 1 3 2 5 6 18 9th Leyton Orient 12 3 1 2 13 8 2 1 3 9 10 17 10th Exeter 12 3 1 2 13 9 2 1 3 9 11 17 11th Cambridge Utd 12 3 0 3 14 13 2 2 2 9 9 17 12th Darlington 12 2 1 3 8 10 2 4 0 10 8 17 13th Rushden 12 2 1 3 12 9 3 0 3 10 10 16 14th Lincoln 12 4 1 1 12 7 1 0 5 9 15 16 15th Carlisle 12 1 4 1 8 9 2 2 2 8 8 15 16th Torquay 12 2 2 2 10 12 2 1 3 6 12 15 17th Macclesfield 12 3 1 2 10 7 1 1 4 4 8 14 18th Wrexham 12 2 1 3 10 9 2 1 3 10 13 14 19th Shrewsbury 12 2 1 3 7 11 2 1 3 7 8 14 20th Bournemouth 12 3 1 2 10 8 1 1 4 9 18 14 21st Hartlepool 12 0 3 3 4 7 2 2 2 6 5 11 22nd Bury 12 1 1 4 8 15 1 3 2 8 11 10 23rd Swansea 12 1 1 4 6 13 2 0 4 11 15 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24th Scunthorpe 12 0 4 2 2 5 1 1 4 3 10 8 </pre>

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The quest for more fire power was aided a day later though when on Sunday evening Paddy Connolly, the St. Johnstone forward, arrived in town with his agent to seal the deal that had been expected. He was only a short term signing, but one Owen hoped would really boost the side. If it went well in the early stages, he'd also be more inclined to lower the asking price on Bo, to get rid of the moody bugger sooner.

The following day the press conference was held, where Paddy was introduced to the fans, before he engaged in his first training session with the lads. He then was given the new routine welcome that had been initiated by a few jokers recently. When Steve Howard had arrived, he found a set of his clothes in the communal bath, and then found his training kit covered in itching powder. Paddy bore it with his typically morose Scottish outlook, before gaining revenge on the "wee bastards" by emptying all the lockers into the dustbins round the back.

retired_jgirl87

Woah, didn't expect Mickey to move so quickly.

Enjoy your holidays, BoN. :cool: