Harriers Suffer Penalty Heartache!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Unlucky lads. First pre-season game of the year and I think there was plenty of positives to take from the game.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">I thought we started extremely well and passed the ball around nicely early on. We were tidy in possession and got the ball wide to Mumford and Danny at every opportunity. We did try and force passes from time to time when we should have probably played the simple ball but I&rsquo;ll put that down to everyone being a bit rusty.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Both teams had chances in the first half but we took a deserved late towards the end of the half after Mumford was fouled inside the box and Ivan dispatched the resulting penalty. Steve Bruce then added a second shortly afterwards which meant we took a 0-2 lead going into the second half.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">We switched things around in the second half and clearly let our concentration drop as Abbey dominated the early exchanges. A mix up at the back led to Abbey pulling one back but we regained our concentration and looked to have won it until poor defending let Abbey in to score with seconds remaining.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The game then went to penalties which we were unlucky to lose in sudden death after Harry rattled the crossbar to gift the match to Abbey.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">I do think this new formation will work although we do need to work on positioning. The midfield were far too deep, far too often, especially in the second half which caused confusion between the defense and the midfield and meant the attack became a bit isolated. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a major problem and better communication is probably all that&rsquo;s needed to put things right.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">First BIG game of the season on Sunday and one I really want to win! It&rsquo;s an early one so make sure you all get an early night Saturday so your nice and fresh in the morning!!!

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Looking forward to it. COYH!!!