TEN-MAN Harriers held on for a deserved point at Chorley, seeing out a 1-1 draw following the dismissal of Geraldo Bajrami.
The Reds played the better part of 40 minutes a man light after the defender was given his marching orders for two yellow cards. Despite that disadvantage, they took the lead through an Ashley Hemmings wonder strike, before being pegged back late on.
Speaking after the final whistle, Assistant boss Jimmy O’Connor said it was a deserved share of the spoils in a game that had two teams going “hell for leather.”
“We’re immensely proud of our players for that performance,” he commented. In the second half the effort was off the charts.
“We were a team of men out there tonight and anyone who witnessed it will be saying it.
“I thought the effort and desire to keep the ball away from our goal and out of our net was fantastic -we had some chances on the break [but] it’s a good point and backs up Saturday’s win.”
Russ Penn had opted to stick with the same starting eleven from the win over Bradford at the weekend, but new signing Nick Clayton-Phillips did make the bench.
The second half was always likely to busier than the first, which yielded next to nothing in terms of serious goal mouth chances.
Freemantle ran himself ragged in search of scraps in the opening period and got scant reward – the only serious goal mouth action came in the Harriers area when Chorley twice got the ball at the by-line, no one on hand to turn home one low cross, and Cameron doing well to turn another aside.
After the break, Bajrami’s red – for a late foul resulting in his second caution – was the first event of note, but it was actually Harriers who almost took the lead through Sam Austin as his long-range effort was tipped on to the bar.
Harriers did stride ahead a minute later as Hemmings turned superbly and fired an effort from 20 yards into the top corner with Urwin well beaten.
The inevitable barrage from Chorley was expected and duly arrived, but to Harriers’ credit they reduced them to largely chances from distance. Henley and Cardwell twice went close as the game edged past the hour.
The equaliser came with just ten minutes left of normal time, a clever nudge down to Hall giving him the space to turn it past Simpson with virtually his first chance of the game after coming on as a sub.
While the visitors battled well whilst under the pump, there was actually a huge chance for them to win it on the break. Austin charged forward with great strength, getting far enough past his man to get a shot off that looked destined for the far corner before Urwin extended himself superbly to turn it around the post.
Harriers: Simpson, Penny, Richards, Cameron, Austin, Carrington, Hemmings, Sterling (Morgan-Smith 70), Martin (Bonds 83), Bajrami, Freemantle (Lowe 52).
Subs not used: White, Clayton-Phillips.
Attendance: 849
Referee: Ben Wyatt
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