Hayes 6 Harrow Borough 0

Borough turned round at half-time at Church Road somewhat unfortunate to be one-down, but they followed that with 45 minutes of poor passing, midfield surrender and appalling defensive disorganisation, backed by some goalkeeping howlers, to finish the game on the end of their heaviest defeat of the season, writes Simon Grigor.

Harrow manager Edwin Stein made a number of changes to the side that had performed so disappointingly against Purfleet on Saturday, with Clemente Lopez, Perry Norman, Wayne Walters and Fabio Valenti returning in place of Dwain Clarke, Marvyn Watson, Ross Fitzsimon and Pat Gavin.

Borough started brightly enough and after 10 minutes, Robert Charles's clever flick from Richard Clarkes near-post cross flashed past the post. Kevin McKenna's 30-yard free-kick then flew wide of the target.

At the other end, McKenna had to make an acrobatic clearance from inside the six-yard box, and Kevin Warners clever free-kick routine saw his shot charged down.

James Osborn had a shot blocked, and McKenna an effort saved by Bossu, who then needed two grabs to dive on a shot from Osborn. The hosts went in front after 29 minutes when one of their forwards was tripped as he ran into the Harrow area. Ferguson was very unlucky not to get Cochrane's spot-kick, which squeezed under his dive.

Harrow were close to an equaliser with a 42nd minute goalmouth scramble which saw the ball hacked off Adam Everitts toe, but on the stroke of the interval Hayes nearly doubled their lead when Currie's header crashed off the bar.

The half-time break saw a change of referee, Mr Mackrell being unfit to reappear. It also saw a change in the mental state of the Harrow side.

Competitive throughout the opening period, the white flag was raised throughout a dreadful second half, and the chapter of disaster opened in the 54th minute when Matthew Ferguson got both hands to the ball at the feet of Currie but then contrived to sweep the ball up into the air. Currie squared to Holsgrove who tapped it home.

Ferguson's woes continued in the 61st and 66th minutes when he seemed to stand rooted to the spot as first Molesey and then Holsgrove fired shots from distance past him.

The whole defence was at fault for the fifth after 72 minutes. Holsgrove now fancied his chances from distance against Ferguson, who oddly had chosen not to wear a cap despite the strong sunlight facing him and hit a free-kick from 30 yards. Ferguson could only touch it onto the bar, and with no Borough defenders quick to react, Julienne fired in the loose ball.

Confirmation that Harrow were to get nothing at all from the game came when both replacement referee Mr Lymer and his assistant, found from within the crowd at half-time, missed an appalling challenge by Holsgrove on Perry Norman that probably deserved a red card. As it was, Norman was left hobbling and was unable to get out of the way when a cross from a Hayes' short corner routine five minutes into stoppage time deflected off him past Ferguson.

Technically, Harrow still need a point for mathematical safety, as Boreham Wood and Chesham can still reach their current 54 point total, though it would now take a strange sequence of results for them to be under threat.

But this second-half performance suggested that the players have decided the close season has arrived, or perhaps no-one has told them that this season the league campaign increased from 42 to 46 games?

11:51 Tuesday 22nd April 2003

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