Harriers claim Senior Cup with hard-fought win over Worcester - The Worcester Observer

Harriers claim Senior Cup with hard-fought win over Worcester

Worcester Editorial 21st Apr, 2015 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

Kidderminster Harriers 2-1 Worcester City

Worcestershire Senior Cup Final

Jonny Bonell reports from Aggborough

Attendance: 1,029




IN A GAME billed as the ‘Aggborough battle’ it was landlords Kidderminster Harriers who overcame tenants Worcester City to secure the Worcestershire Senior Cup for the first time in five years.

Another spectacular effort from Sean Geddes had looked like setting Worcester on their way to the trophy after an 18-year drought when he curled home four minutes into the second half.


But a quick-fire response from Luke Maxwell and a drilled finish from Jared Hodkiss with 12 minutes remaining swung the final in the direction of Harriers and gave them a 2-1 victory.

Not for the first time this season Worcester were proving more than a match for their higher-league opponents as Daniel Nti pounced on a Kennedy Digie error in the box only to fire over while down the other end Harriers’ captain Jack Byrne hit an ambitious 25-yard effort marginally wide.

Nti was giving Digie the runaround and twice came close again as Jasbir Singh held one strike and watched another drift past his post after Maxwell had sliced one wide from the edge of the box for the Conference Premier outfit.

Digie went on to be replaced by Hodgkiss after just 23 minutes but the substitute encountered the same problems against the impressive Nti when the striker drifted past him and seemed to be clipped in the box, but referee Wayne Barratt waved away the protests.

The main controversy came just after the half hour mark as the ball was played through to Akwasi Asante, the reds’ striker was in an offside position so Keyon Refill burst through and slotted the ball through Jose Veiga only to see the linesman’s flag already raised.

Heeley’s side were looking to claim their first Senior Cup since 1997 and after Craig Reid’s dangerous flick had given them an early second half scare, Worcester were on track to end that drought when Geddes curled a beautiful effort round the despairing reach of Singh after 49 minutes.

But that hope was extinguished just five minutes later when Veiga palmed a dangerous Reid free-kick round the post and from the resulting corner Maxwell slammed home following a goalmouth scramble in the City box.

After a frantic opening ten minutes to the second 45, the pace settled somewhat but Gary Whild’s side got their noses in front for the first time in the evening when Hodgkiss played a neat one-two with Ahemd Obeng down the right, took a touch in the box and fired past Veiga.

Substitute Danny Wright was kept at bay from making it 3-1 at the death but it wasn’t to matter as Kidderminster saw the game out and claimed the cup for the 26th time in their history.

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