Recap: Harriers 2-0 Ebbsfleet United

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HARRIERS secured a vital 2-0 home win over Ebbsfleet at a chilly Aggborough Stadium on Saturday. 

A brace from Ashley Hemmings was enough to pocket the result for Russ Penn’s men. It was a first league win for a while, but no less deserved for a solid afternoon at the office.

There were a flurry of chances early in what was an entertaining enough affair, Harriers going close in the opening minutes when Jack Lambert won the ball well before laying it off to Hemmings who pulled a shot wide. Just after, the visitors weren’t far away with a Dom Poleon effort that Christian Dibble did well to turn aside for a corner.

Past the midway point of the half, Poleon was a threat again with an angled drive that flew past the upright, after Kai Lissimore had struck over for Harriers and before Krystian Pearce saw a shot blocked inside the area.

There was another chance apiece past the half hour. Luke O’Neill for Ebbsfleet took aim from distance and saw a shot glance past the top corner, before Lambert went for goal, almost catching out Mark Cousins at the foot of his near post – the goalkeeper making a good save.

Harriers then took the game away from the visitors with quickfire goals before the interval. First, Sammy Robinson’s ball set Hemmings away out wide, who charged down on goal before driving a firm, angled effort across Cousins and into the far corner.

The celebrations had barely died down when Harriers made it two; quick thinking from Lambert seeing him take a free-kick while players around him waited, Hemmings alive to the threat and latching on to his pass before firing home for his fifth of the season.

Harriers had three big chances to make the game truly safe with a third goal within 15 minutes of the restart. Morgan-Smith showed great strength to hold up the ball and shoot, being denied by Cousins, before Lambert kept the keeper busy with another low shot. Hemmings, with a hat-trick in his sights, then rose well in the area to meet McLean’s cross, his header only kept out by another sound Cousins stop.

Ebbsfleet then did manage a spell of pressure, which Harriers withstood well. Two key chances came from it in the final 20 minutes of the game, Dibble saving from sub McQueen’s shot, before Poleon struck the base of the post with an effort from outside the area.

Get full team line-ups and key match facts from The Match Centre.

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