Harrogate Town 6 Solihull Moors 0 Att.583
In, arguably their best performance since the F A Cup victory over Torquay United,Harrogate Town humbled league leaders,Solihull Moors 6-0.
For Town,new addition from Buxton,Warren Burrell,replaced the injured Dom Knowles and new loan signing,Nat Brown, started on the subs bench.
A first minute strike from Solihull’s Andy Brown brought a fine diving save from Peter Crook,but Town soon began to take control.
Visiting skipper,Theo Streete,just headed a Brendan Daniels corner clear from Danny Ellis,while Danny Lewis blocked a point blank shot from Daniels after Joe Colbeck’s low cross.
Solihull’s,Darryl Knights, relieved the pressure when he broke forward to flash a dangerous shot past Town’s upright from twenty yards.
With thirty minutes gone the excellent Paul Clayton thought that he had given Town the lead when he headed Lewis Turner’s long centre past Lewis,only to see it ruled out by the linesman’s offside flag.
However,Town were not to be denied and Paul Thirlwell soon found the overlapping Louis Swain on the left;his centre was helped on by Daniels and the Moors defence could only clear as far as Burrell who drove into the far corner from twentyfive yards to give Town the interval lead.
A hard fought and sometimes over physical first half,in which both Clayton and Lewis were booked,gave no portent as to what was to follow.
Shortly after the break,Dave McGurk limped off to be replaced by Nat Brown for his Town debut.
Harrogate doubled their lead on fiftythree minutes when Clayton dinked the ball over Steven Leslie for Colbeck to centre and Lloyd Kerry did the rest with a left footed shot into the far corner of the net.
Leslie himself then foraged forward for the Moors only to shoot well over the bar,but five minutes later,Town struck again.
Harrogate were awarded a free kick thirty yards from goal,and although Lewis produced a flying save from Colbeck’s shot,Burrell followed up to net from the rebound.
Ten minutes later,Clayton made it four when he rifled in a Daniels corner.
Two goals in two minutes late in the game put the icing on the cake for Town.
Firstly,Danny Ellis rose highest at the far post to head in a Daniels corner and then a superb reverse pass from Clayton sent Colbeck clear and he raced through to drive past the hapless Lewis into the roof of the net.
Although,Warren Burrell, was awarded the “Man of the Match”,the sponsors made it clear that everyone had played their part in a magnificent victory.
Town,
1 Crook, 2 Turner, 3 Swain, 4 Thirlwell (Worrall 85), 5 Ellis (c), 6 McGurk (Brown 47),
7 Colbeck, 8 Kerry, 9 Clayton, 10 Burrell, 11 Daniels (Thewlis 85).
Unused subs,15 Lassana, 16 Emmett. Booking Clayton
Scorers,Burrell 38,58, Kerry 53,Clayton 68,Ellis 79,Colbeck 81. Att.583
Man of the Match,Burrell.
By John Harrison
