Kidderminster Harriers You 0 vs 0 Hampton Reds U15

First game of the season and the long haul over to Kidderminster Academy, newly promoted from division 5.

Unfortunately missing captain Rayyan due to injury with Sal & Ferrari also unavailable today.

The Kidderminster pitches weren’t in as good condition as expected, pretty much just flat mud all over, so that was a little bit disappointing but nevertheless the same surface for both sides.

The game started scrappy with both teams working each other out, but Hampton notably quiet compared to our friendly with Wake Green last week. It did feel like the lads were slightly intimidated by some of the Kiddy lads, as they had some big lads across the pitch, but this is something the lads have to get used to now as they move towards 15 and 16… we’re not exactly a short team ourselves!

Nothing much in the first 20 minutes or so with both sides cancelling each other out and no real chances to note. The frustrating thing from my perspective was the fact we weren’t getting the ball down and trying to play, there was a lot of first-time hits which didn’t end up in our possession. With the half looking likely to be a stalemate, a big punt from their keeper allowed their winger to nip in and just prod the ball ahead of Harrison and it trickled into the empty net. 1-0.

Nothing really of note towards the end of the half and we came in at HT 1-0 down.

I explained to the lads that we should be getting a foot on the ball and trying to pick our passes, as well as being more pro-active and anticipating and passes because all we were doing was reacting once the ball was on its way. We also, as usual, needed to be more vocal, as nobody on the pitch was communicating.

The second half started pretty much as the first ended, with both teams battling but a lot of the balls in the final third were being shielded out so everyone resets from a goal kick. Hampton did start to get a foot on the ball and managed to work some neat openings, but again the final ball either wasn’t quite right or their defence just stayed strong and cleared. Kiddy would then get a second when the midfielder showed some good trickery to get into the left hand side of the box and a deflected shot beat Harrison. 2-0.

Hampton, still pretty flat across the board bar one or two, had plenty of time to get back into this one but couldn’t make several corners come of anything. The best chances falling to Harry from long range and then Ollie who hit a decent strike but Harry couldn’t get out of the way. That pretty much summed up how the day had gone, nothing clear cut for us, despite huffing and puffing for 70 minutes.

The game ended 2-0.

I guess the most disappointing thing about today was we didn’t turn up with the energy that we usually would, like we did last week when it didn’t count. We weren’t bouncing to get going from the start and it all felt very sleepy throughout. I’ll have to think about that one, as we need to be on it from minute 1 in this division.

There were some positives to take, with the defensive line playing very well and several Of the lads battling very hard, notably Finley Dunn and Omar, who worked tirelessly. I do believe if we can get Rayyan, Sal & Ferrari back next week we can have a real go at home, but for now we have to take the defeat on the chin and get that fire in our belly to improve!

MOTM today was Dawson, who showed some excellent touches in the middle of the park and fought/scrapped for everything showing himself to be a real asset in the Hampton shirt today. Keep it up Dawson!

First HOME game of the season next week, let’s make it a fortress this season and show that we belong at this level.

UTR