Kidderminster Harriers 3-0 Nuneaton Town

Nuneaton Town fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Kidderminster Harriers at Aggborough as they had two men sent off in the first half.

Ryan Beswick saw red just four minutes after Tom Elliott received his second yellow card in a match that had been evenly contested up until that point.

Goals from Emmanuel Sonupé, Joe Ironside and Liam Truslove secured the three points for Harriers as they continued their climb up the table, condemning the Boro’ to a Christmas in the relegation zone.

The first half had been uneventful until the half hour mark, when Jordan Nicholson linked up nicely with Ashley Chambers, playing a one-two that had Nuneaton threatening, Brandon Hall came out well in the Kiddy goal to collect and set Sonupé away on a swift counter. The pacey winger cut inside and shot through Dean Lyness‘ legs to open the scoring. James Ferry, on loan from Stevenage, looked impressive in his Boro’ debut and made Hall work with Nuneaton’s first shot on target shortly after.

Referee Dean Watson then booked Elliott twice in the space of two minutes. The first was for a foul on Ironside, as Elliott went through the back but appeared to win the ball, the second was for a slightly late challenge on Sonupé.

Nuneaton pushed forward looking for an equaliser before the break but when Kidderminster won possession on the edge of their own area and looked to push out, Beswick went to ground with a strong challenge that left Watson with little choice but to give him his marching orders.

Seven minutes into the second half Ironside converted from the spot, sending Lyness the wrong way, after Chambers left a loose leg out to trip Joel Taylor in the box.

It could have been worse for Nuneaton as James McQuilkin fired in a sweet volley that had Lyness beaten, Ironside blocked it on the line to keep the score at 2-0 for the hosts.

Daniel Nti, returning to the line-up after injury, saw his shot charged down on the hour mark and Niall Heaton‘s downward header was saved by Hall as Boro’s nine men fought to get themselves back in to the contest.

The final twenty minutes saw chances aplenty for Kidderminster as they began to exploit the space that Nuneaton’s depleted side were forced to leave.

Brad Gascoigne made a tremendous sliding interception to foil Ironside as he was bearing down on goal and Lyness got down sharply to deny Taylor.

Kidderminster finally added a third as Truslove struck with two minutes remaining.

Ironside thought he added a fourth in stoppage time but the celebrations were cut short as he was ruled offside.

Dino Maamria’s side will look to get back to winning ways in just three days time as they host Tamworth in a 12:00 kick-off on Boxing Day at the LDJ Solicitors Stadium.