Four-goal Matthew hatches victory plot
A BRILLIANT team performance by Harborough Town Juniors’ under-13 (9v9) side defied blustery conditions and earned a convincing 9-2 victory over Birstall win in the league cup.
Man of the match Matthew Hatcher chipped in with four goals, all of which were long-range piledrivers.
His dominant midfield colleagues Oliver Manz (two), Tom Leonard and Luke Flynn also got onto the scoresheet along with centre forward Zac Cooper. Fellow midfielder Sam Felton-Dobbs also made a fine contribution as a second half substitute.
Keeper Aaron Hopkins, made some fine saves, when the away team managed to breach the town’s excellent defence of Ethan Verrell, Josh Plant, James Riches and Angus Nimmo, all brilliantly marshalled by skipper Tom Collier.
Netherhall Diamonds 2 Harborough u12s 4
THE first game back after the winter break was marked in style by Harborough under-12s – at the expense of top-of-the-table opposition.
They kicked off with bright attacking play and after 15 minutes Elliot Thornton headed them in front. An own goal from a throw-in extended the lead before the break.
A scramble in the box gave Netherhall the chance to pull the score back to 2-1, but the two-goal advantage for Town was restored by Ben Baker.
Harborough keeper and man of the match Will Barrett made some superb saves but he was beaten by a combination of a wild kick and a strong gust as Netherhall made it 3-2.
Harborough kept their nerve and a final opportunity was converted by James Lawton to leave a final score at 2-4.
Harborough u9 Rebels 2 Braunstone 0
TWO well-taken goals and their first clean sheet gave Rebels an impressive home win in a well-fought encounter.
An angled drive from Frankie Aldridge opened the scoring and the win was sealed with a cool finish from Alex Price.
Intelligent defending and strong performances in goal from Thomas Iliffe in the first half and Elliott Sneath in the second kept a determined Braunstone attack at bay.
Harborough u15s 3 Thurlaston 2
HARBOROUGH made the best of the dificult conditions only to fall behind close to half-time to a soft goal after defensive mistakes gifted the ball to the visitors.
The second half was only minutes old when Stuart Hogben knocked in an equaliser after some neat play put him through.
Town continued to press forward and took the lead when Joe Verrell smashed in a 25-yard free-kick. This was quickly added to when Harborough were awarded a penalty, coolly converted by Ali Powell.
The visitors got a goalback when a speculative long-range effort was taken by the wind and when it came off the bar was prodded home to set up a tense last few minutes but Harborough played time out to record a good win.
Carib Sports 7 Harborough 94 u11s 0
THIS was always going to be a difficult game for Harborough 94 under-11s against the potential league winners.
They didn’t settle well and soon fell behind after Carib scored from a fine.
This was just the start for the home team, who displayed some fine football and quickly doubled their lead.
Harborough came close from a free-kick, but the ball was soon at the other end and Carib put away two further goals before half-time.
Things began to look promising for Harborough in the second half as a fine ball from Tom Beattie through the defence found Jack Marabella but again the finish was lacking. A free-kick just outside the area from Will Munn also went unrewarded.
The home team stepped up the pace towards the end of the game and soon put three further goals past the visitors.
Man of the match for Harborough was jointly awarded to Rhys Lewis and Tom Pedler.
Countesthorpe Ath 3 Harborough 94 u18s 2
A VISIT to face the league leaders did not faze Harborough 94 under-18s – who led 2-0 at one stage.
Town were quicker to master the blustery, boggy conditions. They produced fine wing play through Nathan Harris and Luke Knibbs, while shots came in from man of the match James Blackwell and Tom Webb.
They finally took the lead through Mitch Bevins following a corner, and then the scorer floated in a free-kick for Blackwell to make it two.
Countesthorpe were back in contention after making it 2-1 before the break, and in the second half, with the slope in their favour, they mustered two more goals to snatch victory, the winner being a wonder strike.
Cosby U12 (9v9) 3 Harborough u12 (9v9) 0
DESPITE the result Harborough under-12s (9v) could be pleased with their efforts against high-flyingopponents.
In blustery conditions they attempted to keep possession rather than use the wind to launch the ball upfield. They competed on equal terms for the first 25 minutes, creating several chances of their own with Nat Fox using his strength up front to hassle the home defence.
The deadlock was broken five minutes before half-time as Cosby scored from a penalty rebound as the first kick was saved by Sam Cutler.
A second goal followed just a minute before half-time as Harborough failed to clear their lines.
In the second half Harborough again took the game to Cosby and the midfield of Rory Peck, Charlie Regan and Dan Blockley started to dominate, picking up loose balls and playing some intricate passing moves. Fin Sneath and Ben Anglade worked well up front with Anglade creating some good chances.
Second half keeper Henry Linsell and defenders Joe Howland, George Davidson and Will Smith played cohesively, with Howland showing strength and making some strong runs up the wing.
Cosby got their third with the last kick of the game.
Harborough 94 u12s 2 Meridian Red Lions 11
HARBOROUGH 94 under-12s were completely up against it before the game had even started due to playing the league leaders with only eight players and no substitutes.
Add into that strong windy conditions and Town looked dead and buried at half-time – trailing 8-0.
But despite not giving up the ghost, a more spirited second half was soon rewarded when Euan Hackett found the net after a fine solo run, and when Greg Fellows fired in a 20-yard screamer, confidence was slowly being restored, but with all the effort being put in by an under-manned side, tired legs started to show and Meridian grabbed a couple more goals towards the end.
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Weather for Harborough
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
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