Harrogate’s run of home wins was ended by an impressive second half performance from Worcester City.
Fielding an unchanged side,Harrogate dominated the first half hour with top scorer,James Walshaw,firing an early chance past the post.
Worcester had keeper Nathan Vaughan to thank for keeping the scoresheet blank as he made a fantastic one handed save to keep out Lewis Turner’s thirty yard snap shot,before he shortly afterwards made a point blank save to deny Dave McGurk as he tried to turn in Craig Nelthorpe’s cross.
A raking Rhys Meynell header created a chance for Jake Speight but his weakly hit shot presented no problems for Vaughan,then a mistake by the City defence almost let in Speight but Vaughan was quickly off his line to clear the danger.
Gradually, Worcester began to make inroads into the Town defence and a raid down the right led to a chance at the far post for Nick Wright who,luckily for Town, stabbed just wide.
The half ended with Tyler Weir testing Phil Barnes with a ground shot from twenty yards.
Although the home midfield lacked bite,the back four,with McGurk and Luke Sheils dominant,looked solid.
All this was to change on the hour with the introduction of Daniel Nti proving to be the key that unlocked the Town defence.
On 65 minutes,Nti received a pass from George Williams,made ground across the Town penalty area and beat Barnes with a shot inside the far post.
With ten minutes left,Town failed to close down Sean Geddes and he beat Barnes with a curling drive into the top corner.
To their credit,Town responded well with Walshaw finding sub, Louis Swain, who forced Vaughan to make a diving save from his stinging drive. Lloyd Kelly did well to win the ball on the edge of the area and feed Meynell who then forced Vaughan into a full length save.
As the game entered added time Adam Nowakowski’s point blank shot was diverted for a corner,but it was Worcester who had the last word as Nti took advantage of hesitation in the Town defence to make it three nil.
Harrogate Town 0 Worcester City 3 Att. 500
Town
1 Barnes, 2 Turner, 3 Meynell, 4 Nowakowski, 5 Sheils, 6 McGurk (c), 7 Rowe, 8 Metcalfe (Lenighan 70), 9 Speight (Swain 65), 10 Walshaw, 11 Nelthorpe (Kerry 65).
Unused subs,13 Crook,15 Bloomer. Bookings Sheils,McGurk,Swain,Lenighan
Town Man of the Match, Sheils. Att 500
By John Harrison.
