Not only an unchanged starting line-up, but also an unchanged subs bench and an unchanged formation, as Gary Johnson asked his side to kick off in the manner that they had left off against Histon on Saturday. Visitors Kidderminster were bound to be fired up to impress new manager Stuart Watkiss and they certainly gave notice of their battling intentions when they landed two players in the book inside four minutes of the start.

The Glovers came close to an early lead with a great set piece. Just as Kidderminster were bracing themselves for a 25 yard Lee Johnson special, the midfielder chipped the ball short to Darren Way, who flicked the ball behind the Harriers wall and straight into the path of Phil Jevons, who didn't quite have enough time to compose his close range shot to keep it on target.

Possession was almost entirely in the Harriers half, although that didn't stop Yeovil nearly gifting Kidderminster their first chance. A Scott Guyett header back to Chris Weale didn't quite reach it's intended target and Simon Russell intercepted, only to find Lee Johnson alert and ready to stop any chance of a shot being fired in on goal.

Kidderminster's unambitious 4-5-1 formation was not the greatest surprise to the home players, although they were having trouble getting in behind the crowd of ten man that were permanently behind the ball. Michael Rose tried his luck from long range, whilst Kevin Gall was a little more productive, forcing keeper Ryan Clarke into a parried save which Bartosz Tarachulski couldn't convert on the rebound. But mostly it was all about Yeovil trying their best to unpick the Kidderminster back line, and a series of misplaced attempts to do that resulting in some impatient noises from some of the less understand home supporters.

Bar the misplaced backpass, Kidderminster hadn't even come within a sniff of Yeovil's goal, but as often happens in such circumstances, just one move is all it needs to create a goal. Just after the half hour mark, Jon Beswetherick put in a deep cross to the Harriers sole front man Darryn STAMP, who guided his header across the face of the Yeovil goal and into the opposite corner.

The clear worry here was that if Kidderminster's tactics were to play negatively and keep players behind the ball, then at 1-0 up, they would redouble their efforts to defend and block. But fortunately it only took a matter of five minutes to draw level. A Michael Rose free kick had been punched over his own crossbar by Clarke as Yeovil went close, but in a moment of long-ball magic, Yeovil drew level.

Colin Miles had been drawing criticism from home fans for some of his apparently over-ambitious passes over the top of the Harriers midfield, but when his 60 yard pass found Andy LINDEGAARD, suddenly no-one was complaining as the right wing-back chested the ball down, beating his marker all ends up, and then rifling a left-foot shot in off the post from 25 yards to draw Yeovil level. Thankfully it was enough for the Glovers to take in at half time in a frustrating 45 minutes where they dearly needed to create space in order to carve open the resolute Harriers double-back-line.

Darren Way forced a parried save from goalkeeper Clarke in the opening minutes of the second period after he had been put through by Phil Jevons. Yeovil were attacking better although it was a touch one-sided with nearly all the play being channelled through to Kevin Gall on the right flank. One such Gally cross was brilliantly headed down by Bartosz Tarachulski straight into the path of Andy Lindegaard but his first time shot hit the side netting.

Colin Miles was replaced by Adrian Caceres on the hour mark as Gary Johnson pushed for better creative play by reverting to a 4-4-2 formation with Gall and Lindegaard taking over the right, whilst Rose and Caceres patrolled the left. But again most of the play came down the right flank and in all honesty, without really creating anything of note, this was Kidderminster's best spell of the game, with Terry Skiverton having to hack the ball clear when close to his goal-line after a Kidderminster cross caused confusion in the box.

As Andy Lindegaard limped off with a quad muscle strain, replaced by Adam Lockwood, Kidderminster came within a whisker of managing a smash'n'grab of extreme sorts. Dean Keates got in behind the Yeovil defence with Chris Weale already having committed himself on the front post, but an outstanding tackle by Darren Way stopped a shot going in on an empty goal.

Johnson decided things needed shaking up again and once again the left channel got tweaked with Michael Rose coming off and Andrejs Stolcers going up front as Yeovil reverted to a 3-4-3 attacking option. Within a minute, this change had reaped significant dividends. A Lee Johnson right wing cross came into the box and as the trio of Glovers strikers moved in for the kill, Andrejs STOLCERS didn't get picked up and his glancing header hit the back of the net from six yards out. With his first touch, the Latvian had almost certainly given Yeovil the points.

If anything Yeovil could have run away with it thereafter. Adrian Caceres put through Stolcers who forced Clarke into parrying his shot brilliantly, but perhaps the Harriers keeper did even better to react to Tarachulski's shot on the rebound, tipping the ball round for a corner. Bartosz got himself another chance when Jevons put him in behind a Harriers defence now being forced to push beyond their 18 yard line, but again Clarke was at hand to deny, and the Glovers had to be content with a single goal victory, gained against a Harriers side that scared them momentarily, but in the end their one serious shot during the match was never really likely to be enough to keep the Glovers out for the whole 90 minutes.

Badger

MOTM Vote Result:

Player MOTM Score Kevin Gall 4 576 Darren Way 9 488 Andy Lindegaard 3 282 Bartosz Tarachulski 7 276 Scott Guyett - 65 Phil Jevons - 47

Overall match rating: 4.8 / 10
Performance: 5
Entertainment: 4.6

34 votes received.

Any comments/questions please email ytfcmotm@ntlworld.com

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