WINGATE & FINCHLEY 3 HARROW BOROUGH 1

History repeated itself at Summers Lane on Tuesday. Back in March, Harrow had conspired to lose 3-1 against hosts who played for 71 minutes with ten men. Here, it was almost the same, the hosts having a man sent off after 25 minutes but still going on to beat Borough with something to spare, on a night when Harrow might have been better rewarded for their efforts going forward but defensively looked a shambles.

Ryan Debattista started for the first time this season, in place of Ben Long, while at the back Daniel May moved to right-back, Adam Louth returning on the left.

Steve Butterworth picked up a booking after only 15 seconds, surely a record, and Harrow had a let-off in the 2nd minute when the hosts opened up the defence for Fisher to have a shot that beat Charlie Horlock but was hacked off the line by May. A second near-miss saw McCluskey slide the ball just over when a Wingate left-wing raid opened up the Harrow defence. Marc Charles-Smith had Harrow’s first attempt on goal, stopped by a tackle as he shot having burst into the area on the right. Fisher’s lob went over the bar before, unsurprisingly, Wingate went ahead in the 19th minute. Knight’s free-kick was half-cleared, but the ball was worked to the right, the man on the wing having far too much time to pick out Muir whose near-post header beat Horlock.

Horlock saved an angled shot from Olayide before Harrow got a lifeline, and a huge one, after 25 minutes. Charles-Smith held off a defender to go one-on-one with Carter in the home goal. The keeper came out, didn’t get the ball, and clattered very heavily into the Borough skipper. Carter was red-carded with Charles-Smith needing lengthy treatment before he could continue. This meant that a different penalty taker was needed for Harrow: Butterworth assumed responsibility and after a four-minute delay in which time Charles-Smith was helped off and Wingate sacrificed scorer Muir for substitute keeper Metcalfe, he slammed home the spot-kick.

So Harrow had over an hour to take on a side with one man less. And initial signs were quite promising. Spender Bellotti’s header put Debattista in, but he screwed his shot wide; a lovely passing move ended with Butterworth’s low cross being cleared off Charles-Smith’s toe, only to Bellotti whose goal-bound shot was hacked over his own bar by former Harrow player Marsh-Brown; and a Jake Gilbert header at the far post that was blocked. But the home threat was far from over, and Fisher had two decent efforts off-target in the closing minutes of the half.

Wingate showed the value of having a keeper on the bench when Metcalfe leapt to brilliantly tip over Ola Williams’s rising drive as the second half opened, before Bellotti put a header wide at the near post from Butterworth’s cross. Wingate were, however, organising themselves well at the back and Harrow had warning of what they might do on the break when they ran quickly at the visiting defence and Horlock had to come quickly off his line to save at Olayide’s feet. The referee declined to give Harrow a second spot-kick was Bellotti was pushed as he went for a header in a goalmouth scramble.

In the 65th minute, Wingate brought on substitute Rob Laney, another former Harrow player. A defender of very modest ability in his time at Earlsmead, one wonders whether he ever revealed then that he instead fancied life up-front (and if so what reaction he got). For that is where Wingate are deploying him, and it took him just three minutes to get his name on the scoresheet, finishing off at the far post after the Harrow defence, with Michael Peacock and Anthony Page both having bad nights, was cut to ribbons by a quick break.

Going forward, Harrow were trying to make their extra man pay, but the hosts were packing the centre of their defence, as Bellotti, Butterworth and Lucien found as their respective shots were blocked by the massed ranks. When Bellotti did for once beat an offside trap that caught him out far too often, Metcalfe was out to save well at his feet. An acrobatic effort by debutant substitute Lewis Driver was blocked, and Lucien shot over from the edge of the box. But the game was well and truly up for Harrow in the 82nd minute when a single long ball downfield totally caught out Gilbert and Page, and Shulton went on to apply the coup-de-gras of the third goal. The frustration in the Harrow ranks was all-too-evident, with Williams and Lucien needing to be separated after a move went wrong in midfield.

Eight days ago, ten points from seven games looked a decent start for a club that appeared to have realistic intentions of avoiding a relegation battle this campaign. But Harrow now look at a record of a point a game, something that extrapolates to relegation form, and they can also see a number of the seven teams still below them in the table (Lewes, Bonor and Hornchuch, for instance) starting to find form after poor starts to the campaign. It’s an all-too-familiar scenario to be taking into a potential FA Cup banana-skin, which this season sees them travelling to Southern League Central strugglers AFC Hayes this Saturday.

Finally, Wingate are very much a club that Harrow can realistically compare themselves to. They have similar support, a similar standard of player, presumably a similar budget, and similarly they usually struggle at the wrong end of the table just about every season. But that is now seven games between the sides since Wingate returned to the Premier Division: given the above, might one expect an even-ish record between the sides? Er, no, Harrow have taken a solitary point from the 21 that have been on offer: suggesting that when they meet, something deep down is amiss with the coaching, the management, the tactics or (most likely) all three.

WINGATE & FINCHLEY: Warren Carter (sent off, 25 mins), Mark Goodman, Ronayne Marsh-Brown, Carl McCluskey, Marc Weatherstone, Ahmet Rifat, David Knight (sub Rob Laney, 65 mins), Tommy Tejan-Sie, Nico Muir (sub Jack Metcalfe, 28 mins), Leon Fisher, Karl Olayide (sub Scott Shulton, 75 mins). Unused subs: Paul Wright, Daniel Nielsen.

HARROW BOROUGH: Charlie Horlock, Daniel May, Adam Louth, Jake Gilbert,
Michael Peacock (sub Harold Odametey, 73 mins), Anthony Page, Steve Butterworth (booked, 1 min), Ola Williams, Marc Charles-Smith (sub Shaun Lucien, 55

Att 128

by Simon Grigor