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Richard
Goddard - scored Harrow's
fourth |
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| Harrow crept
through to the County Cup Semi-Finals
on Tuesday evening, but they
made very hard work of it against
opponents in relegation trouble
in Division One South who can
consider themselves a little
unfortunate not to have got
something from the game.
On a bumpy pitch, Harrow’s
management decided to rest a
number of regulars, with some
fringe players getting starts.
All started well enough with
Daniel Dyer’s 5th minute
free-kick being met by a firm
header by Andy Aransibia that
produced a great save by Snell
in the home goal. But the home
side soon warned of their own
threat up front. First, Dean
Marney was fortunate not to
have been judged to have taken
‘man before ball’
when he challenged Eddington
in the penalty area, and then
Butler skipped past two Borough
defenders to force a good save
from Keita Karamoko.
Harrow needed a goal to settle
down, and they got it after
23 minutes, Jimmie Berry crossing
from the left and Dyer scoring
with a shot angled back across
Snell from 10 yards.
The hosts hit back and Butler
shot past the post to end a
four-man move, before setting
up Root for a shot over the
bar. Goalscorer Dyer then had
to perform a good deed at the
back to clear a header off the
line.
Late in the half, Dyer limped
off. His replacement, Chris
Jones, made a dream start, scoring
with his first touch in the
45th minute, converting at the
far post after Snell had failed
to hold Berry’s cross
under pressure from Aransibia.
A two-goal lead at half-time
would have made it a difficult
job for the home management
to motivate their charges, but
Borough failed to shut up shop
in first-half stoppage time
and Root beat Karamoko to a
through-ball to reduce the arrears.
But Harrow started the second
half well. After 48 minutes
Aransibia went clear on the
right and checked before crossing
deep for Kevin McKenna to control
the ball and beat Snell. 3-1
up, Harrow looked for a while
to be well in control. Aransibia
turned and shot over after a
good ball from McKenna, and
a nice move ended with Davis
Haule heading just wide from
Berry’s cross.
On the hour, McKenna was withdrawn
from the fray. If David Howell,
in charge for the evening, thought
this was a safe thing to do
with the game under control,
he was quickly shown the error
of their ways. Immediately,
Adam Everitt needlessly handled
a corner, and Driscoll stepped
up to beat Karamoko from the
spot. With just a one-goal lead,
the Borough midfield suddenly
found themselves missing McKenna’s
strong influence.
Another possible penalty was
turned down four minutes later
when a home forward tumbled
between two Harrow defenders
and, after 71 minutes, Root
missed a golden chance to equalise,
putting a free header wide from
just a few yards out.
In the 75th minute, Karamoko
saved Davidson’s free-kick.
Play broke to the other end,
where Richard Goddard collected
a throw-in on the left, turned
a defender and shot into the
far corner of the net to restore
the two-goal advantage.
Substitute Brian Haule flicked
a Goddard cross across the goal
as Borough appeared at last
to be comfortable. But two minutes
into stoppage time, Croxford
rose unchallenged at the far
post to bury a header in the
Harrow goal, and there was more
nail-biting in the closing seconds
before the victory was confirmed.
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