We arrived at the ground about an hour before kick off and were able to park opposite the ground in a club carpark. To our amusement there was a ‘No ball games’ underneath the painted KHFC logo on the stand. The ground itself had four separate stands, with terraces behind the goal and seats along each touchline. It felt like a ‘proper’ football ground, a world apart from the away days of the past.
The game didn’t start well for the Whites as they conceded a penalty after five minutes when Cook was outpaced by Penn and brought him down before he could reach Kenna’s through ball. However help was at hand when Christie took a gentle kick to Clarke’s right which allowed the Salisbury keeper to save the shot.
There was no respite for the Wiltshire side and the first twenty minutes were dreadful to watch. Kidderminster were well up for the game and seemed to be a step ahead of the Salisbury players for the ball. With Tubbs and Brown both out injured, the makeshift frontline of Matthews and Feeney were dropping back deeper and deeper to try and get the ball. Kidderminster took the lead on 11 minutes when Penn ran down the right from his own half, took on Cook and beat his man before curling a left foot shot into the net.
Salisbury gradually settled and managed to get back into the game after 25 minutes when Feeney and Kidderminster keeper MacKenzie collided at the edge of the box. Feeney got to his feet first and slotted the ball into the net with the keeper staying down. I thought that the referee would disallow the goal but he allowed it to stand which didn't go down well with the locals.
Four minutes later and the pace of Feeney unlocked the Kidderminster defence again. A quick break down the left and he crossed the ball into the middle for Robbie Matthews to slide the ball under the keeper’s dive and in. Amazing celebrations followed, as we couldn’t believe that we had scored, let alone take the lead after the poor start to the game.
Salisbury were now dominating play and Feeney was unlucky not to add a third before halftime when his shot was well saved by the keeper. However Kidderminster couldn’t be underestimated and almost equalised after that when Kenna played a cross in to the box only for an unmarked Jeannin to scoop the ball over the bar and into the crowd.
The second half was more even and both teams created one good chance to score. Robbie Matthews had an angled shot saved and Christie went through one on one with Clarke only to delay his shot and allow the Salisbury custodian to save at his feet. Our hearts were in our mouths on more than one occasion but the team held on for the away win.
After the game we drove up towards Stourbridge to another of Andy’s favourite drinking establishments. This one was a very old fashioned pub which felt more like being in a 1960’s wallpapered living room, albeit one we had to queue up outside until it opened. The drinks went down well and we were able to revisit the victory thanks to the copy of the Saturday evening ‘Pink’ sports paper from the newsagents opposite.
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