Forest Green Rovers 1(1) v (0)1 Kidderminster Harriers

Football Conference National - The New Lawn - 1 January 2012

Attendance: 1542

Individual Stats
Forest Green
Shots
Fouls
Off.
v Kidderminster
Shots
Fouls
Off.
 
On
Off
For
Ag
     
On
Off
For
Ag
 
James Bittner      [1/31] Tony Breeden     
Jared Hodgkiss     [2] Lee Vaughan     
Chris Stokes      [3/22] Mickey Demetriou     
Jamie Turley      [5/4] Luke Jones     
Eddie Oshodi      [22/15] Tom Sharpe     
Jake Thomson      [21/24] Kyle Storer     
Kieron Forbes      [11/7] Dave Hankin     
James Norwood      [7/8] James Vincent     
Charlie Griffin      [10/20] Jamille Matt     
Matt Taylor      [14/34] Lee Hendrie     
Jan Klukowski      [8/18] Callum Gittings     
Wayne Turk      [4/3] Mike Williams     
Luke Graham      [16/9] Steve Guinan     
Chris Allen      [18/10] Marc Williams     
Michael Uwezu      [23/14] Nick Wright     
Matt Bulman      [13/21] Dean Lyness     
Team Stats
  Fouls Conceded Offside Corners Shots On Shots off
Forest Green 9 3 10 7 7
Kidderminster 9 1 3 8 6
GOALS
Forest Green Kidderminster
35 Jan Klukowski 90+1 Jamille Matt
Formations
Forest Green
   Bittner  
Hodgkiss Turley  Oshodi Stokes
   Thomson  
  Forbes  Klukowski 
      
 Norwood GriffinTaylor 
Kidderminster
   Breeden  
Vaughan Jones  Sharpe Demetriou
     
  Vincent  Storer 
Hankin  Hendrie  Gittings
   Matt  
SUBSTITUTIONS
Forest Green Kidderminster
70 Uwezu Norwood Uwezu to striker. 55 Wright Vincent Wright to left wing, Gittings to right central midfield.
90+2 Graham Taylor Graham to central defender.  Now 5-3-2. 66 Guinan Hankin Guinan to striker, Hendrie to right wing.  Now 4-2-4.
     86 Ma. Williams Gittings Marc Williams to right central midfield.
BOOKINGS
Forest Green Kidderminster
    
Referee: Steve Bratt (West Midlands)
Match Report by St@tto

Harriers' unbeaten run stretched to ten games thanks to Jamille Matt's injury time header, his eleventh goal of  the season and seventh in as many games.

The game followed a similar pattern to the meeting between the clubs at Aggborough six days previously in that the first half-hour was a scrappy affair; Harriers, showing one change from the previous game - James Vincent in for the injured Jack Byrne, were forced to soak up a considerable amount of pressure from the home team without really being threatened.

Neither side played good football in the opening exchanges and were both limited to half chances in front of goal.  Lee Hendrie had had a long-range shot parried by Rovers keeper James Bittner before he turned provider on 28 minutes, sending Vincent clear; his shot was mishandled by Bittner who spilled it but took enough power off it that it didn't manage to trickle over the line.  Moments later a Harriers counter-attack, cleared from a Rovers corner, saw Hendrie send Matt clear but his shot was easy for Bittner to save.

Rovers took the lead ten minutes before the break; James Norwood's cross from the left found Jan Klukowski at the near post, showing great touch he brought the ball down, turned and smashed it into the roof of the net.  Harriers could have drawn level before the break, Breeden started the move with a good pass forward from on the left touchline to Matt, some good passing by the harriers ended with Callum Gittings setting up Kyle Storer whose shot was tipped over the bar by Bittner.

Early in the second half Harriers had a narrow escape; a corner from the right found Eddie Oshodi at the far post, his header was cleared off the line by Gittings.  Harriers began to enjoy more possession as the half wore on, Rovers seemed happy to sit on their lead and often had two of their attacking players drop back to defend making a line of six across the back, thereby making themselves even harder to break down.

With the massed defences ahead of them Harriers didn't create much in the way of goalscoring chances until quite late in the game.  Twenty minutes from the end substitute Nick Wright shot over from the edge of the penalty area; five minutes later Hendrie forced a save from Bittner with a free-kick from 20 yards out that beat the wall and was heading just inside the post.

In the last minute Harriers nearly drew level; a long ball over the defence was chased down by Matt who got to it a fraction ahead of Bittner but his hasty lob fell just wide of the post.  Harriers kept going, however, and as the game moved into stoppage time Mickey Demetriou sent a cross from the left into the heart of the goalmouth and Matt threw himself forward and managed to get his head to it sending it past Bittner and into the back of the next to grab a dramatic equaliser.