Kidderminster cling on for a point to frustrate Hatters

Luton Town 1 (1) Kidderminster Harriers 1 (0)

A FRUSTRATING afternoon at Kenilworth Road ended all square as in-form Kidderminster Harriers netted a second half equaliser to grab a share of the spoils, writes Mark Wood.

Town bossed possession and dominated territorially but found it hard to break down the Midlands side who harried and hassled well on a dreadful pitch that stifled Luton’s creativity.

Former Harriers star Matthew Barnes-Homer was in sparkling form for the Hatters and, although his fine first half strike gave Luton the lead, it wasn’t enough as Chris McPhee struck early in the second half for the visitors.

There were other half chances for the Hatters, but they never quite had enough to earn what would have been a vital victory.

Town made two changes from the team that ground out a 1-0 victory at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday. Fit-again Dan Gleeson was preferred at right-back, with Luke Graham dropping to the bench, and Paul Carden came into the centre of midfield, with Jake Howells pushing out to the left wing and winger Robbie Willmott (thigh strain) dropping out of the squad entirely.

The barely-covered-by-grass pitch was watered by the groundsmen before kick off to give it some added zip and they made a barnstorming start as former Harrier Barnes-Homer and Lloyd Owusu combined in the opening seconds. Barnes-Homer tumbled amid a swathe of bodies and Owusu seized on the loose ball but tumbled when clean through on 20 seconds but referee R Whitton deemed it a dive and booked him for simulation.

And Owusu had another great chance to break the deadlock on four minutes when Barnes-Homer did well to close down and block Michael Briscoe’s attempted. The ball broke kindly for Owusu but his low drive was turned round the post by Daniel Lewis.

Town tried to play some nice stuff despite the challenging surface with half chances falling to both Barnes-Homer and Claude Gnakpa.

A lovely move then saw Jake Howells, Barnes-Homer and Freddie Murray combine to set up Owusu at the front post, but he could only fire his first-time effort wide.

Having created almost all the chances Kidderminster almost hit Town with a sucker punch on 26 minutes. Some indecision at the back the back allowed Matty Blair to turn the ball back across goal but Callum Gittings could only head softly at Mark Tyler from just a few yards out.

But Luton did snatch the lead in contentious circumstances seconds later. The brilliant Barnes-Homer did well to chest down Dan Gleeson’s pass and after having one effort blocked, he blasted home from the narrowest of angles.

Incredibly the ball raced along the back of the net before sling-shotting back into play. Mystifyingly play continued for several seconds with the crowd celebrating and the officials strangely unmoved before the linesman finally saw sense and flagged for the goal.

Harriers almost levelled eight minutes before the break when Luton failed to clear a corner and Sean Canham’s flick from the return clapped the bar and thankfully bounced behind.

Canham, who had hold of Murray, had a good looping header turned over by Tyler while Chris McPhee stabbed wide.

Some hesitant defending almost let in Howells late in the half before Owusu’s header from Murray centre dipped just over.

And in stoppage time Barnes-Homer muscled and his way into the box before blasting a deserved second the wrong side of a post as the sides went into the break all square.

Town started the second half slowly and paid the price as Harriers equalised after just seven minutes. Kidderminster were awarded the softest of free-kicks and McPhee was allowed to ghost in at the far post to head home Gittings’ ball.

This seemed to wake up the Hatters who proceeded to go for the jugular. Howells’ ball back into the box was flicked on by Zdenek Kroca and as Owusu challenged the ball looped into the air and, with Lewis struggling, rebounded off the bar and behind for a corner.

And Luton went close again seconds later as Kroca laid the ball into the path of Owusu but he could only mishit his left-footed effort wide.

Barnes-Homer did superbly to tee Keith Keane up on 67 minutes but he could only drive over from the edge of the box.

A Keane free-kick then caused all kinds of problem but there was no-one there to stab home, while Owusu’s long-range drive was easily save by Lewis.

Some strange refereeing hampered the Hatters throughout and when they did finally get a sight of goal Gnakpa’s effort was deflected wide by Michael Briscoe.

And there was to be no late drama as a mixture of stop-start refereeing and scrappy football saw the game drag to a draw.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Dan Gleeson, Freddie Murray, Keith Keane, George Pilkington (C), Matthew Barnes-Homer, Zdenek Kroca, Jake Howells (Amari Morgan-Smith 82), Paul Carden, Claude Gnakpa, Lloyd Owusu. Substitutes not used: Luke Graham, Danny Crow, Godfrey Poku, Kevin Pilkington.

Harriers: Daniel Lewis, Mike Williams, Tom Shaw, Mark Albrighton, Keith Briggs (C, Lee Morris 77), Chris McPhee, Tom Sharpe, Michael Briscoe, Matty Blair, Callum Gittings, Sean Canham (Jamille Matt 87). Substitutes not used: Lee Vaughan, Nick Wright, Andrew Stevens.

Referee: R Whitton.

Assistant referees: S Phipps and L Wood.

Four official: K Howick.

Attendance: 6,108 (Kidderminster 176).

Star Hatter: Matthew Barnes-Homer. Class act and deserved to be on a winning side.