Predatory McPhee sinks battling City (From Worcester News)

Predatory McPhee sinks battling City

9:40am Thursday 4th February 2010 in

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Worcester 0
Harriers 1

ONE hundred and 20 miles separate Kidderminster and Wembley but that distance looked considerably less as Harriers took a step closer to FA Trophy glory with an nervy win over their county rivals on Monday.

While this performance was not the most convincing of the season, it may be the most important win yet, as captain Chris McPhee’s solitary strike ensured the Aggborough outfit booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Standing in their way is the mountain-like challenge of Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium in the last eight but nonetheless this victory means their season is very much alive and kicking on two fronts.

Harriers will have to improve greatly if they are to knock out the Blue Square Premier title-chasers after they were given a scare by their neighbours down the A449, but Steve Burr’s troops did show impressive mental strength to settle a tricky third round tie.

Before the the delayed kick-off, which had been put back by 15 minutes to allow fans to get into the ground, the omens were with fired-up Worcester, who belied their lowly position in Blue Square South to scare Harriers’ high-flyers.

Apart from a handful of Worcestershire Senior Cup games and friendlies, these two local rivals had not met in a meaningful match since 1985 and the weight of expectation was on Harriers to see off their struggling county rivals, who fielded former Harriers Rob Davies, Graham Ward and substitute Mark Clyde.

Afterwards Burr was happy to see his side avoid a potential giant-killing.

“It’s a cup tie and the first local derby for a good while, so it was important just to get a win and I’m glad we got through,” he commented.

“It was a great ball in from John Finnigan for our goal and then I thought we should have wrapped up the game.

“Just after that we should have wrapped up the tie, we had some really good chances to give us a cushion.

“Obviously, they threw men forward late on but didn’t cause us too many problems.

“I was really pleased with the attitude of the players because it had to be spot on before the game.”

After being cancelled on Saturday because of a frozen pitch, the game passed a late afternoon inspection but the playing surface still had all the qualities of an ice rink on the right flank and Harriers struggled to cope with plucky City.

The visitors rode their luck, with Marc McGregor’s vicious snapshot hitting the post early on and Davies denied a gilt-edge chance by keeper Jasbir Singh and Gavin Caines.

At the other end, Harriers struggled to get going, with Lee Baker seeing a fine long range effort fly wide, Aaron Farrell screwing a decent shot off target and Damian Spencer spurning a chance when he mis-controlled the ball after a counter-attack.

Harriers looked set for a difficult second half but they found their rhythm during a dominant 15 minute spell and a rare moment of quality gave them the lead.

Assistant manager John Finnigan delivered a delicious curling pass from the left which caught out City’s defence and McPhee ghosted in to finish with aplomb from close range.

The 400 strong away army of fans had been happy to amuse themselves with a football but they were on their feet and cheering behind the goal.

McPhee could have put the tie to bed late on when he pounced on a slip by Shabir Khan but fired a low shot wide.

To their credit, City tried to force a replay and Marco Adaggio shot over with just Jasbir Singh to beat.

Otherwise the back four coped well with the barrage of crosses late on.

If they squinted, jubilant Harriers fan could see the vague, vast indistinct shape of Wembley flickering briefly in the distance but the shadow of Oxford looms heavily over it for the moment.

Harriers: Singh 6; Courtney 6; Baker 8; Finnigan 7; Caines 7; Riley 7; McPhee 7; Bennett 6; Smikle 6; Farrell 6 (Hadley, 67); Spencer 6. Unused substitutes: Knights; Sharpe; Hayward; Coleman.

Worcester: Meredith; Ward; Khan; Wilding; Daniel; Kemp; Davies (Walker, 83); Elvins; McGregor (Clyde, 22); Adaggio; Carter (Dinsmore, 71). Unused substitutes: Spencer; Fitzpatrick. Referee: Mark Heywood (Northwich). Attendance: 1,653