Blockbuster finish boosts Harriers bid (From Worcester News)

Blockbuster finish boosts Harriers bid

11:51am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Reports

Harriers 3
Hayes and Yeading 1

DON’T you just love a happy ending?

If Saturday’s thrilling victory was a movie it would had been capped by the most dramatic of Hollywood style finishes, where our heroes emerged triumphant against the odds.

As bad guys go, Hayes and Yeading seemed more like henchmen than criminal masterminds but thanks to Luke Williams’ first-half goal they threatened to deny Steve Burr’s battlers and even end their unbeaten run.

But then three goals in 15 mad minutes, two of them in stoppage time, changed the game, gave another boost of nitrogen to Harriers’ already impressive momentum and most importantly shot them back into the Blue Square Bet Premier play-off spots for the first time in three months.

Harriers deserve credit as a much-improved second half display piled the pressure so much on the London outfit that they inevitably cracked with a series of errors, which the home side pounced on with the killer instinct of a team with cast-iron play-off credentials.

Hayes had resisted manfully as the hosts peppered their goal but the breakthrough came when visiting skipper Tom Cadmore needlessly allowed the ball to come off him for a corner when he could have cleared.

The hosts didn’t need another invitation and from Mickey Demetriou’s delivery, Kyle Storer fired goal-wards but it was fox-in-the-box Steve Guinan, a second-half substitute, who got the final touch to divert it past keeper Carl Pentney.

That goal seemed to have rescued a point and keep their unbeaten run going but one became three in six minutes of injury-time magic.

Much-sought after hitman Jamille Matt, watched by a host of scouts and Peterborough director of football Barry Fry, pounced on Daniel Wishart’s poor back pass, rounded a flailing Pentney and with the cool charm of a leading man stroked the ball into the back of the net in the 90th minute.

The striker had a poor game by his recent standards but his finish was of the highest quality and certainly would have increased his value after he made it 12 for the season with his eighth goal in as many games.

The points seemed sealed but Harriers weren’t finished, substitute Nick Wright swapped passes with Matt and despite conspiring to waste the chance in the 96th minute, he fired home from an acute angle.

The final flurry of goals ensured the fans went home on a high and erased the frustrations from earlier in the game.

Hayes had more than deserved their lead in a first-half they dictated.

Williams had been the away team’s most potent attacker and had already flashed a low shot across the face of goal after latching onto a poor goal-kick by keeper Tony Breeden.

He made no mistake mid-way through the half, when Harriers’ defence hesistated briefly and he rifled a low shot into the bottom left corner.

It wasn’t until the second half that the hosts found their feet and slowly started to up the pressure.

Even then it looked as though this might not be their day when Luke Jones headed an effort into the keeper’s arms, Demetriou hit the bar with a fine long-range strike and Matt nodded off target from a Kyle Storer free-kick.

Midfielder Lee Hendrie came even closer, smashing a shot goal-wards only for Pentney to block in on the line as time started to ebb away.

Amidst all the action and between the Harriers’ first and second goals, tempers flared when Demetriou was smashed into by Julian Rose.

In the ensuing melee, Hendrie was pushed to the ground by Phil Walsh but somehow the Hayes duo escaped with yellow cards.

But any danger the loss of tempers might de-rail the home side were quickly obliterated by the injury salvo.

“It was a great win,” said Harriers boss Burr. “In the first-half in particular I thought Hayes played really well and they closed us down.

“I did think in the second half with the chances we created that it wasn’t going to be our day.

“I felt our performance was good, it may not have been quite up to our previous games but in the second-half I think we were worth the win because we kept going and stuck the ball in the net when it mattered."

Harriers: Breeden 6, Vaughan 7, Jones 8, Hankin 6 (Guinan 75), Vincent 6 (Bradley 61), SHARPE 8, Gittings 6 (Wright 61), Matt 7, Demetriou 7, Storer 6, Hendrie 7. Unused substitutes: Marc Williams, Lyness.

Hayes and Yeading: Pentney, Moutaouakil (Bell-Baggie 76), Wishart, Cadmore, Walsh, Lee, Soares, Rose (Bettamer 90+2), Williams (Ajala 71), Owusu, Folkes. Unused substitutes: Argent, Beasant.

Attendance: 1,732 (35). Referee: Nick Kineseley.