Harborough Town 2-0 The Mikes

New signing Bekir Halil started for the Mikes, while Andre Brown, returning from injury, came off the bench with a quarter of the game left. Kai Tonge (last seen by us in Coleshill’s colours) began his time for our hosts.
An initially lenient referee allowed our bulky opponents to play as if they’d just escaped from the adjacent rugby pitch. Fortunately, Boldmere kept cool under fire, and the game ended with only two yellow cards - both given to the visitors. Harborough looked at their most dangerous from set pieces, and went ahead with nine minutes on the clock, the unmarked Paul Malone heading powerfully home from a corner. Boldmere concentrated on playing the passing football which had overcome Grantham the week before, Jack Byrne once again assuming the role of midfield distributor, Ricardo Dudley a rather underused flying full back, Ben Usher-Shipway showing the quick thinking which has seen him play at higher levels than ours. Even so, as the game progressed, the ball spent long periods at the back of the formation as the Mikes looked increasingly puzzled as to how to send it forward. With seven minutes left before half time, the door opened for what would have been a deserved equaliser. Kaden May was brought down in the box. Callum Gittings took the penalty….and the athletic Elliott Taylor smothered his effort. Even so, there was some nervousness among the home fans: this wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. Half time: 1-0.
Harborough started the second half by nearly scoring from a corner, and soon Dan Moore was palming a header from a free kick round the post, the resulting corner being headed against the bar. Our opposition know how to use their big men! Boldmere immediately counter attacked , a Ben Usher-Shipway cross being put just over the bar. An uncharacteristic fumble by Moore elicited an “Oooh” from the crowd, who are as quiet and genteel as their Church Road equivalent. His counterpart Taylor, not for the last time, kept his team ahead by pushing an Usher-Shipway thirty yarder round the post. Owen Parry dropped into midfield as Andre Brown rejoined the fray. He and fellow substitute Michael Tait-Moran soon made their presence felt, only an excellent Taylor save preventing them scoring from their first attacking foray. With seven minutes’ ordinary time left, Harborough put the result to bed. From a throw in, another powerful header, this time by Alex Morris, found the net. It could have been three two minutes later, a diving Moore save denying Rhys Hoenes from only six yards out. To their credit, Boldmere’s heads didn’t drop and, strangely enough, if Taylor hadn’t been in such excellent form, they could actually have equalised, Taylor’s two late efforts preserving his clean sheet. Enjoying our hosts’ liquid hospitality afterwards, assembled Church Road Pundits agreed “we were worth a point”; but, as our President reminded us, “That’s football.”

Harborough Town: Elliott Taylor; Dan Cooper; Isaiah Bazeley (Josh Walsh 73); Connor Kennedy; Ben Williams; Alex Morris; Kai Tonge; Jake Duffy (Rhys Hoenes 66); Paul Malone; Dodzi Agbenu; Dan Forbes (Silvano Obeng 87).
Subs. not used: Luca Miller; Gary Mulligan.
Boldmere St Michaels: Daniel Moore; Ricardo Dudley; Harry Sweeney; Joe Hull; Harry Craven; Jack Byrne; Kaden May (Michael Tait-Moran 73); Callum Gittings; Owen Parry; Bekir Halil (Andre Brown 69); Ben Usher-Shipway.
Subs. not used: Lewis Allison; Tazivaishe Chibaya; Mitch Botfield.