Football Days

Aggborough - Kidderminster Harriers FC

Kidderminster Harriers 1-3 Wrexham

(Wrexham win 5-2 on aggregate)

28/04/13 - Blue Square Premier Play Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg

Att: 6,202

Just as it looked as if the season was finally coming to a close another match popped up as Kidderminster's play off semi-final second leg fell the day before Aston Villa's Monday night demolition of Sunderland. With the relevant time off work booked and travel arrangements sorted it was just a case of getting match tickets. An online facility wasn't available, so you'd think a quick phone call would sort you out. Wrong. Amazingly, in 2013 a club was only prepared to sell tickets in person. As you can imagine I didn't fancy travelling 130 miles to buy a ticket, but thankfully my travel companion was willing and able to travel from Walsall to get two terrace tickets so it was all systems go.

It was an early start as the match was moved to 1:30pm to allow dozens of fanatics to tune into online channel Premier Sports and watch the action live. Having arrived in Birmingham about 11am I expected to catch the connecting train to Kidderminster, only to find that there was a train fault and the next one wasn't for an hour. As you can imagine I wasn't in the best of moods by this point and after having a quick pint to cheer me up I met up with my mate Dan and we wandered down to Snow Hill to finally catch the train.

By this time kick off was approaching and as we arrived we headed straight to the ground. Having taken a few pictures we queued up and went inside, where my mood was improved further by finding out that all the programmes had been sold out. With a full house inside the ground it was difficult to find a decent spot to stand, but we finally settled on a spot and awaited kick off.

Kidderminster have played at Aggborough since 1890 although the ground has been upgraded in recent years and has a reputation as being one of the best outside of the Football League. In 1994 Kidderminster won the Conference but Aggborough wasn't considered to be up to scratch, but since redevelopments took place there were no such concerns when they won the league again in 2000. Unfortunately their stay only lasted for five seasons before being relegated back into non-league and since their return they'd largely struggled to mount a promotion push.

This season was by far the closest they had come, finishing the season in second place with 93 points, just two behind champions Mansfield. It's often said that it's tough for the team that just miss out on promotion when the play offs come around and it seemed as if there was some truth in that as Kidderminster were beaten 2-1 at the Racecourse Ground in the first leg. Over 6,000 fans packed into Aggborough hoping to see Worcestershire's only previous Football League club regain their status amongst the 92, however there were 1,600 from North Wales who were just as eager to see their club move a step closer to reclaiming their place in the League five years after they were relegated.

Whether it was a case of nerves, the fact that they went into the game a goal behind or the early kick off I'm not too sure, but the atmosphere wasn't building as much as I was expecting as the teams came on to the pitch. At the far end a boisterous following from Wales made themselves heard, but on the pitch it was the home side that made the brighter start.

In the early stages Kidderminster had hit the post through Michael Gash and also forced a good save by Wrexham keeper Chris Maxwell. Despite the early pressure it was the visitors who struck first after half an hour against the run of play. Brett Ormerod latched on to the end of a through ball and chipped the ball into the net from outside the box to put Wrexham firmly into the driving seat. It was a fantastic finish and sparked wild celebrations amongst the travelling fans, as well as knocking the stuffing out of the Kidderminster revival.

Wrexham took control of the game, but twenty minutes after half time the home side were back in the tie after scrambling home an equaliser from close range. It looked as if was 'game on' but five minutes later a Wrexham free kick went straight through the Kidderminster goalie and squirmed in at the near post to re-establish the visitors' lead. With the game drawing to a close and the disappointed home fans streaming towards the exits the final nail was hammered into the coffin as Wrexham were awarded a penalty which was converted by Neil Ashton.

The final whistle sparked a pitch invasion from the away fans as the Kidderminster fans stayed to applaud their team who recovered from a woeful start to the league season to come within a whisker of promotion.

As it turned out Wrexham were beaten at Wembley by fellow Welsh team Newport County, making it the third season in a row that they've been beaten in the play offs.

After the match we headed back into Birmingham and had a few beers before retiring to Walsall for even more beer and eventually going to sleep. It was a decent afternoon at a ground that really deserves to host football at a higher level than it does. Hopefully they can pick themselves up from this disappointment and mount a challenge in the new season.