Steve Baker made one change to the line up which started at Tiverton, Kevin Songolo replacing Ahmet Biler in midfield. Harrow had an early chance when James Ewington chased a through ball. Philpott in the Winchester goal raced out of his area and got to the ball first, but his clearance went to Songolo and he had an opportunity to try a long shot towards the empty goal, but chose instead to pass and the opportunity was lost. Winchester were having the better of the early exchanges and an unmarked Herbert received the ball wide on the right. He raced in on goal but his shot went wide.

Somewhat against the run of play, Harrow took the lead on 12 minutes. The combative George Moore chased a long ball to the left corner flag, robbed the defender, Torniainen, and dribbled to the edge of the penalty area, before releasing a glorious strike, which curved into the far corner of the net.

Harrow had another opportunity two minutes later, when Josh Williams dribbled into the penalty area, but his shot was blocked. This was soon followed by a corner from which James Taylor headed the ball down to the near post, but Winchester just managed to scramble it away. Harrow`s lead did not last long, as on 17 minutes, a free kick from the right reached the feet of the impressive Obeng, who had his back to goal close to the goal line. He was allowed to turn and crash a close range shot through Jacob Knightbridge.

Winchester were now having the better of the game, with Harrow relying on breakaways. Herbert had a shot blocked on the line and Obeng shot wide after a goal mouth scramble. Taylor missed a long clearance by Philpott, but his blushes were saved when Knightbridge won a sprint to the ball ahead of Obeng. Mr D`Urso denied Harrow a great chance just before half time when Moore raced through the middle. He was pulled back by Willcox, but broke free and was through on goal, when the referee blew for the free kick, rather than allowing play to continue. Moore took the free kick and his 30 yard shot was pushed wide by Philpott.

Harrow brought Lanre Ladipo on for his league debut at the start of the second half in place of Songolo and there was a positional switch with Michael Bryan moving from the middle to the left and Moore playing more through the middle. This worked well for a while and Harrow were now the stronger team. Ewington just failed to get his head to a Bryan cross, Billy Leonard shot wide from just outside the area and Moore dribbled along the goal line but couldn`t find a Harrow player with the cutback.

Harrow then had a major let off, when a pass forward took a slight deflection off Mr D`Urso. The ball went to Obeng who raced in and beat Knightbridge. It is doubtful that the deflection made much difference to the action, but the goal was disallowed. Harrow`s efforts were severely disrupted after 60 minutes when the excellent Shaun Preddie succumbed to a leg injury, being replaced by Biler, but there was now a serious lack of height and strength in the Harrow back line. Williams had a half chance to score from close in when he tried a back flick, but as the game wore on in the intense heat, Winchester seemed the more likely winners, with Moore remaining the main Harrow threat. He was put through by Leonard and raced into the penalty area on the wide right. With the choice of shooting from a narrow angle or trying to direct a pass to Ewington he managed neither and fired a fierce ball across the goal which eluded everyone.

HARROW BOROUGH: Jacob Knightbridge, Taishan Griffith (booked, 90 mins), Jaden Sharman, Shaun Preddie (sub Ahmet Biler, 61 mins), James Taylor (booked, 24 mins), Billy Leonard, George Moore, Kevin Songolo (sub Lanre Ladipo, 45 mins; booked, 69 mins), James Ewington, Michael Bryan, Joshua Williams (sub Montel Brown, 70 mins). Unused subs: Keegan Bloom, Wesley Tobino.

WINCHESTER CITY: Charlie Philpott, Jack Torniainen (sub Conall Bark, 65 mins),
Daniel King, Max Smith, Archie Willcox (booked, 45 mins), Robert Jamison, Claudio Herbert (sub Henry Brooks, 64 mins), Jamie Barron (booked, 90 mins), Darko Obeng, Daniel Neild, Alexander MacAllister (sub Joshua Bertie, 75 mins). Unused subs: Daniel Jones, Jordi Valero Miret.

Referee: Mr D D`Urso

Att. 157

by Richard Dyett