It was a sixth consecutive victory as Harrow Borough’s super form continued with a fine 2-0 win against a decent Dorchester side in an enjoyable game at The Rogers Family Stadium.
There were three changes from the FA Cup win at Welling. A well-again George Moore replaced the injured Michael Bryan, Imran Uche came in for a rested Samuel Adenola, and Kunle Otudeko had a start with Dernell Wynter dropping to the bench.
Attacking the school end, Harrow started well as James Ewington had the ball taken off his toe just as he was about to shoot, following good work by Moore and Frank Keita, before Leo Donnellan had a 25-yarder saved by Benfield.
Dorchester’s first attack saw Josh Strizovic having to move sharply off his line to collect Wells’s dangerous, dropping, through ball.
The Borough keeper then made a confident hold of a dangerous Papakonstantinou cross.
Moore had a shot blocked, before James Taylor’s pass sent Ewington in, his left foot shot well saved by Benfield.
The Magpies then threatened when Plummer went through the middle, but Strizovic saved at his feet.
Ewington then latched onto Keita’s pass, his shot deflected wide by Wells, but at a cost: in doing so the Dorchester skipper tweaked his hamstring and had to limp off.
Making a substitution when facing a corner is never a good option, and that corner, in the 34th minute, saw Harrow open the scoring, Taylor rising at the near post to power in a header from Lewis Cole’s corner.
And there was further bad news for the visitors: in trying to stop the header, Sa fell heavily to the ground, and after lengthy treatment, concussion was the verdict and he too had to be replaced.
A lively Otudeko held off a defender and shot over from 25 yards. Moore then put Keita in on goal, Benfield saving well in the one-on-one situation.
Otudeko found Moore whose firm side-foot effort was batted away by Benfield.
As the half finished, Stanley’s right-foot cross dipped over Strizovic and struck the top of the bar.
Harrow had the perfect start to the second period. Although they lost the ball having kicked-off, Moore intercepted a sideways pass just outside the penalty area, strode into it, and hit a low right-foot shot that Benfield got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
Only 19 seconds had elapsed. Phillips shot past the near-post for The Magpies, before Otudeko strode forward and played in Ewington who, stretching, saw his shot saved.
The Borough hot-shot then fired over from Keita’s pass. A Cole corner saw Taylor lay the ball to Uche, whose fierce first-time shot from the edge of the area went narrowly over.
Benfield then reacted sharply to grab Cole’s cross off the incoming Ewington.
In the 67th minute, Plummer raced into the penalty area and was brought down by Strizovic.
Yellow-carded, the Borough keeper redeemed his error with a full-length dive low to his right to push away Phillips’s penalty.
Keita shot narrowly wide from just outside the area from Ewington’s pass, before Moore picked up Buckley’s poor clearing header and brought a good save from Benfield.
James Mansfield made a good block to stop a breaking Stanley, and Purrington headed wide, as Dorchester showed they still posed a threat.
At the other end a clever one-two between Moore and Ewington saw the former shoot wide.
Once again, Harrow substitutes showed good form from the bench. Dernell Wynter brought down a Ewington cross, beat a defender, but was foiled by Benfield’s diving save, before Ayodeji Owoeye made a succession of good runs up the right.
His first saw Ewington somehow miss from just a couple of yards, before Ewington’s shot on the turn was blocked by Buckley.
Benfield, probably the man of the match, then kept out Ewington once again.
Owoeye then cut in from the right and had a left footer blocked, before Alfie Cain tried a very ambitious effort from the left wing, which went the far post.
Up to eighth in the table, Harrow now face their sternest test yet, when a Hayes & Yeading United league-topping side that has dropped only two points this season arrive at The Rogers Family Stadium on Tuesday evening.
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