Harriers recorded their first League win since October with a thrilling victory at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground
that saw the home team reduced to ten men in the second half after Darren Ferguson was sent off.
The opening half saw both teams treating each other with a lot of respect and as a result the early exchanges
were very cagey. For Harriers Dean Bennett had a shot saved low down by Kristian Rogers that was the
best early chance. As the half wore on the game began to open up and on 34 minutes the home side came
closest to opening the scoring, Carlos Edwards got to the byline on the right and pulled the ball back into
the goalmouth and after a brief scramble it came loose to Paul Barrett who lashed his shot against Stuart
Brock's left-hand post.
Three minutes later Harriers had the ball in the back of the Wrexham net, Sean Parrish played the ball over
the top of the defence for Andy Bishop who lifted it over Rogers only for the goal to be ruled out by the
linesman's flag. The post then came to the rescue of the home team, Sam Shilton's right wing corner
found Parrish at the far post but he could only direct his header against the upright. Two minutes before
the interval Harriers took the lead, Parrish making amends for his earlier miss with a sweetly struck shot
that curled out of the reach of Rogers and into the bottom corner of the net.
At the break Wrexham replaced Shaun Pejic with Brian Carey at the back who immediately stiffened the resolve
of the home team and was soon clashing with Sean Parrish. With things not going their way Wrexham were
beginning to get a little bad tempered and on 62 minutes the game turned when Darren Ferguson lunged at JJ
Melligan catching him in the groin with his studs and sparking a brawl that involved most of the players on
the park. Once he had regained control referee Mathieson had no hesitation in showing the red card to
the Wrexham man. Andy Morrell, the top scorer in Division Three, had been well shackled throughout the
game but three minutes later he got the better of his marker and got clear on goal but his shot was well saved
by Brock.
Harriers had another scare on 74 minutes when Lee Jones' shot beat Brock but was blocked by Lee Ayres and
rebounded into the keepers' arms. Wrexham pressed frantically in search of the equaliser, Hector Sam
almost found the net but his weak shot ran just wide of the far post with Brock stranded and then a minute
from time Harriers wrapped up the game when Melligan received the ball on the right from Lee Ayres and hit a blistering shot
from 25 yards into the top corner of the net to record his eighth goal of the season. In stoppage time
Wrexham were again denied by the woodwork, this time Morrell hit the crossbar with a 20-yard lob, but Wrexham
were never going to break down the solid Harriers rearguard.
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