Harrogate Town 3 Doncaster Rovers 1: Abraham Odoh’s brilliance diverts Rovers’ latest turned corner down a dead end
Whenever Doncaster Rovers look to be getting into gear, something seems to go wrong. They should have known it was not going to be their day when they smelt burning on the bus to Harrogate Town[1] and had to pile onto a supporters’ coach to make it to Wetherby Road. They made it though the gates an hour before kick-off, only to hit another road block when they got on the putch.
After a 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town and a 3-0 win over Milton Keynes Dons, manager Grant McCann[2] was talking about his team having turned a corer but with no more than two consecutive League Two[3] wins all season, they must feel like they are trapped in a maze. In North Yorkshire they came up against an exciting talent in 23-year-old Abrahm Odoh. The Londoner is not really built for the number nine he wears on his back but from a deeper position he scored a goal and made another in Harrogate’s 3-1 win.
On a couple of occasions Odoh’s decision-making was not quite right but the things he did well more than made up for it against a Rovers side who will feel the scoreline did not reflect the game, but did not do enough to ensure that it did. Given the visitors’ pre-match travails it was perhaps no surprise Harrogate started the better, getting No 10 Odoh and left winger Sam Folarin into the game, and it was no surprise they combined for the opening goal.
GOAL: Harrogate Town’s James Daly makes it 2-1
Folarin had a shot inside four minutes but, coming onto his right foot, it lacked power, bouncing off Louis Jones, then Jack Muldoon before dropping to safety. But the former Middlesbrough player found the net in the 18th-minute, playing a give-and-go with Odoh as the pair swapped positions.
When it came back to him, Folarin stroked the ball into the net. Doncaster, roared on by a very supportive away following were on level terms in little more than a minute. They won a corner and although Mo Faal was unable to get a head on it, Harrogate failed to get the ball clear and Tommy Rowe lashed in an excellent long-range equaliser.
TUSSLE: Harrogate Town’s Stephen Dooley takes on Donacaster Rovers midfielder Ben Close
From there Doncaster got the upper hand, getting Faal more into the game from his position out on the left of a front three.
Ben Close had a shot blocked by Dean Cornelius and Kayne Ramsay needed to make a good block when Faal, drifting into the centre-forward position, laid a terrific ball back to Joe Ironside. Harrogate ought to have regained the lead on the counter-attack after 35 minutes, only for Odoh to fluff his lines. Owen Bailey looked like he had dealt with Jack Muldoon but as the ball came lose from the tackle, the striker found Odoh.
With Folarin in the corner of his eye he was perhaps unsure which option to go for and ended up putting a weak shot wide of the far post.
SHOT: Harrogate Town’s Kayne Ramsey shoots on goal
Generally, though, the game had swung Doncaster’s way without it being a barrage. Faal’s shot at a bouncing ball deflected over, Harrison Biggins caught a volley sweetly without being able to direct it and Luke Molyneux’s shot at the end of the half lacked the power to trouble James Belshaw. Faal was moved to centre-forward for the second half but it was right winger Luke Molyneux who played a leading role in Doncaster’s strong start to it, guiding a volley wide two minutes in after being picked out by another exacllent Rowe pass.
He later dragged a shot wide under pressure from Lewis Gibson, who headed another out for a cornere. Harrison Biggins and Jack Senior also shot over. Folarin failing to reappear after taking a knock in first-half stoppage time ought to gave been a real blow to Harrogate but only seemed to encourage Odoh to take on more responsibility to win the game for his side.
It was he who kick-started a period of concerted pressure by pouncing on an unconvincing Joseph Olowu clearance. It should have ended with a goal but neither George Thomson nor Folarin’s replacement James Daly could force the ball home in a scramble at a third corner in quick succession. Harrogate went in front after 67 minutes in a move started by Anthony O’Connor’s quick-thinking, stepping out of central defence to pick up a loose ball and steering it to Kayne Ramsay – another who upped his game in the second half.
Ramsay exchanged passes with Thomson and picked out Daly to tap in at the far post. Then Odoh got his goal, bringing the ball inside and the crowd to their feet with his shot. There was another standing ovation to come as he left the field in stoppage time having increasingly rolled out his party pieces and drawn bookings from Olowu and Tom Nixon.
Harrogate have an exciting talent on their hands. Harrogate Town: Belshaw; Ramsay, O’Connor, Gibson, Foulds; Cornelius (Falkingham 81), Dooley (Sutton 81); Thomson, Odoh (Burrell 90+4), Folarin (Daly HT); Muldoon. Unused substitutes: Sivi, O’Boyle, Mooney.
Doncaster Rovers: Jones; Sterry (Nixon 72), Olowu, Bailey, Senior; Biggins (Broadbent 72), Close, Rowe; Molyneux, Ironside, Faal (Carty 72).
Unused substitutes: Hurst, McGrath, Faulkner, Bottomley.
Referee: S Purkiss (London).
References
- ^ Harrogate Town (www.yorkshirepost.co.uk)
- ^ Grant McCann (www.yorkshirepost.co.uk)
- ^ League Two (www.yorkshirepost.co.uk)