THURROCK 2 HARROW BOROUGH 0

A much changed Harrow team had the better of the game, particularly in the first half, hitting the post three times and having two goals disallowed, but still suffered another defeat from a team near the bottom of the table.

The recent, alarming drop in form caused Steve Baker to revitalise his squad and this, together with three suspensions, brought a new look team to Ship lane. 17 year old Enock Soganile, signed on a dual registration from Hampton made a very impressive debut at left back. Tayo Davis-Coker came in at centre half in place of Curtis Ujah, Alfie Cain replaced Kurtis Cumberbatch in midfield and Sahr Kabba made a welcome return to the club to partner Ryan Moss in attack.

There was little action in the opening minutes, but Harrow gradually got control of the play. Their first chance came with Pashaj finding Cain outside the area. His shot was spilled by Jessup and ran towards goal, where Kabba and Sutton met at the far post, but unfortunately for Harrow, the ball bounced off them on to the post and away, Sutton requiring treatment from the clash. From the resulting corner, Adam Richards had a shot which went well over the bar. On 14 minutes, Harrow were awarded a free kick just outside the area when Michael Bryan was bundled over by two Thurrock players. Cain curled the free kick over the wall, but just wide of the near post. Shortly after, Kabba ran the ball in to the penalty area, it ran loose to Moss who put the ball into the net, but was judged offside.

Harrow continued to dominate and the next chance fell to Pashaj, who ran on to a cross in the middle of the penalty area, but screwed his shot wide. It was then Kabba`s turn, when he ran on to a Moss flick and tried to lob the keeper, but the tall Jessup got his fingers to the ball. It seemed that Harrow must open the scoring, but instead it was Thurrock who took the lead after 23 minutes. The tall and powerful, Nouble received the ball on the left wing, ran past George Moore as if he didn`t exist, cut in from close to the by-line and fired past Minter into the far corner of the goal. It was Thurrock`s only major chance of the half.

Not surprisingly, the goal seemed to deflate Harrow and the game went quiet for 15 minutes, but Harrow gained control again as half time approached and they almost scored when a Bryan cross was met by Ryan Moss with a firm header which crashed off the bottom of the post.

After an exciting, but frustrating first half for Boro, the second period was a more even, scrappy affair. Thurrock marked Michael Bryan more closely, reducing the effectiveness of that channel, players began to lose their footing on the wet turf and there were too many long ball clearances from both keepers. Kabba came close to scoring when he ran clear into the area from the right, but his flick past Jessup hit the outside of the post. At the other end, Preddie stopped a breakaway Nouble with a firm shoulder charge. Thurrock also had a good chance when No 7 Christou had his one success of the afternoon against Soganile and his cross reached Nouble, but George Moore was on hand to rob him with a firm tackle. At the other end, a Bryan-Banya passing move ended with Moore just outside of the penalty area and he almost repeated his Tooting success, but his shot crashed off the post to Moss who tapped it into the empty net. Unfortunately, he was again judged offside.

Adam Richards picked up a knee injury earlier in the half and was replaced by Reis Stanislaus. Steve Baker then threw on Turl in a final attempt to win a point and this left Harrow short in defence. Thurrock took advantage of this in the 90th minute when Winn found himself unmarked in the middle of the area. Despite the disappointment of another defeat, Harrow created enough chances, hitting the post 3 times, to believe that their luck will soon change.

HARROW BOROUGH: Melvin Minter, George Moore, Enock Soganile, Adam Richards (Reis Stanislaus 68 mins), Tayo Coker, Alfie Cain (Will Turl 83 mins), Michael Bryan, Mark Michael Bryan,Sean Preddie, Ryan Moss, Bajram Pashaj (Charles Banya 64 min) Unused sub: Kyle Beggs

Att. 118

by Richard Dyett