A deserved victory for Rovers, but again we made life hard for ourselves, missing numerous chances, and the game should have been settled well before the ninetieth minute. However, I can't have any complaints about the way we controlled the game, as Kiddy did not have a chance worthy of the name all match.
We started the game quite lethargically, sitting too deep and giving the ball away too cheaply in the first twenty minutes. However, from nothing Norwood scored a great opportunistic goal, brilliantly controlling and finishing a looping delivery into the box by Ihiekwe. The goal settled us down and for the remainder of the half we dominated, Hughes and GTF again impressing in midfield. However, true to recent form, numerous gilt-edged chances were squandered, GTF, Hughes and Norwood all missing sitters, and as poor as Kidderminster looked you began to winder if the misses would prove costly.
In the second period Kiddy seemed a little more competitive and our play became disjointed. We could not get any passing moves going and created very little for the first 25 minutes of the half, although defensively we remained solid and were virtually untroubled. In this period we were showing signs of fatigue after two games in quick succession and I think I and many of the SWA could see that substitutions were needed. Kiddy made three changes but Brabin did not respond, and his failure to be proactive and sense the way the game was drifting at this stage gives me real concern. Finally GTF was replaced by Fenwick with 15 minutes to go. However, Jake Kirby, who was clearly carrying a knock and could barely run at this stage, remained on the field to the bemusement of me and many others. It was only when Garnett and Blundell had a word with Brabin that Kirby was also replaced, which I found somewhat disturbing.
The substitutions gave us a new lease of life and in the final ten minutes we created further chances, a decent effort from Fenwick (who was quite impressive) saved by their keeper and an absolute sitter missed by Norwood from six yards, before he finally put away a more difficult chance from an angle to seal the victory.
Individually, I thought Hughes and GTF were very good again, and all of the back four played well, with the exception of a ropey defensive performance from Vaughan in the first half. Norwood worked incredibly hard again, but man of the match was probably McNulty, who controlled their forward line while barely breaking sweat.
Overall, it was a professional display, although the missed chances remain a concern, as does Brabin's failure to make changes early enough in the second half. However, with the unexpected bonus of defeats for BW and Dover the SWA have renewed hope, and there were some 'ee-aye-oh' promotion chants from the Rovers fans at the final whistle.
