HARWICH & PARKESTON 2

KIRKLEY & PAKEFIELD 1

17th November 2007

Specialists of the score-draw this season Kirkley were quickest into action, Dawson taking advantage of a muddle-up in the Harwich defence, firing his low shot that had Wootten a full stretch. Harwich struggled to get their game going against a physically strong side and in the 25^th minute Nathan Stone was able to turn his marker on the edge of the area and slide the ball into the net under Wootten to take the lead.

Kirkley laid siege to the Harwich area in the last 5 minutes of the half and it was Wootten that kept the deficit to a single goal pulling off at first a fine save from Stones' angled shot followed by an acrobatic dive from Blythes' 12yard effort that was destined for the top corner.

Harwich started the second period slowly and opportunities for Kirkley to extend their lead went begging Blythe and Stone causing the Harwich defence a torrid time. Harwich’s first meaningful effort came from Andy Millers’ 60^th minute strike, grazing the bar from the edge of the area. Harwich started to create more with the introduction of Carmichael and Byrne, adding more bite in midfield and their persistence paid off with only minutes remaining, Tony Chatters dink of a shot from outside the box  took a deflection off Calver and slipped past Pauling, into the net. From the restart Harwich went on the offensive, sensing the possibility an upset, and it duly arrived, Underwood upended ‘en route’ to goal, penalty awarded, Calver dispatched the spot kick out of reach of the keeper. A couple of minutes of added time had home team nerves jangling; the last action of the game saw the Harwich cross bar rattle from Stones' point blank shot. On the final whistle Kirkley were left rueing missed opportunities.