Harriers slumped to their second consecutive defeat in a dour, niggly, local derby after throwing away the
lead in the last ten minutes and ending the game with only ten men on the park.
Ian Britton changed to a 4-4-2 formation, but kept faith with the same eleven that had lost so abjectly in the
previous game against Bury. After this second defeat heads can be expected to roll before next weekend's
game against new league leaders Oxford at Aggborough.
The Robins were the first to threaten near goal, on-loan Kevin Amankwaah got to the byline on the right and
his cross found Grant McCann who took a touch before blazing his shot over the bar. A couple of minutes
later Harriers had their first chance, an outswinging right wing corner found the head of Adam Willis at the
far post but he headed wide and Cheltenham were able to scramble the ball clear.
The game became bogged down in midfield with neither side showing much creativity, and both captains found their
names in referee Hegley's notebook; Sean Flynn for a foul on Amankwaah and Mark yates after he scythed the
legs from under Kenny Coleman. Midway through the half a Cheltenham corner on the right almost created
the opening goal after the cross deflected of the head of Flynn and towards the top corner but Stuart Brock
did well to get across and claw it away. Twelve minutes before the break the home team came close again,
a free kick from McCann beat the wall but curled wide of the near post. Harriers created a good opening
five minutes from half time, Dean Bennett picked up the ball in midfield and ran through the heart of the
Cheltenham team but his final pass into the goal area was aimless and ill-considered when he had Bo Henriksen
unmarked wide to his right and Andy Bishop making a good run to his left.
The deadlock was broken four minutes after the interval, Michael Duff fouled Bishop 25 yards from goal in the
inside left channel, Danny Williams lined-up the kick and after a long run-up blasted it through the wall and
into the top corner of the net. Harriers began to take control, although the quality of the football did
not really improve, on the hour they could have increased their advantage. A through ball from Bennett
found Henriksen who raced clear of the defence but shot tamely wide when faced with Shane Higgs in the Cheltenham
goal. Moments later a free kick on the left found Coleman and his cross to the far post was met by the
head of Bennett but he could only steer it into the side netting. With fifteen minutes remaining Harriers'
last good chance came, Flynn split the defence open with a good pass for Sam Shilton to run onto but Higgs
was quick off his line to avert the danger.
As the game wore on Cheltenham began to get desperate and started to build up the pressure on the visitors, twelve
minutes from the end former West Brom legend Bob Taylor, on in place of the ineffective Kayode Odejayi, latched
onto a pass from McCann but his snap shot was beaten away by Brock. Harriers were preparing a double
substitution to protect the lead when it was wiped out, a corner from the left caused problems in the Harriers
penalty area and Brock came for the ball but failed to collect it and Jamie Victory was able to hook it into
the net. Two minutes later the home team were ahead, McCann stepped up to take another 25-yard free-kick
that flew past the badly built wall and into the bottom corner of the net.
Suddenly Harriers seemed to lose all sense of direction and appeared unable to create any sort of move that
would get them back into the game. Four minutes from time insult was added to injury when Willis made a
late, rash, challenge on Martin Devaney which Mr Hegley deemed worthy of a red card. In the last minute
of normal time McCann went close again with yet another free kick but this time hit it straight at Brock.
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