REPORT | Harborough Town 5-0 Quorn

It was an afternoon to forget for the Reds as they were thumped 5-0 by league leaders, Harbough Town, at the Beehive. Luis Rose secured a brace, either side of an Alex Morris strike, with Luca Miller and Tendai Daire adding late goals as the scoreline began to flatter the hosts.

Town were on the front foot from the start, and it didn’t take long for them to open their account on the day. Quorn struggled to clear their lines defensively, and Rose took full advantage, unleashing an overhead kick that Charlie Woods could do little about as Harborough took an eighth minute lead.

Harborough continued to pile on the pressure, hitting the crossbar, and seeing an effort cleared off the line by Ryan Beswick. Once again, the massed ranks of yellow shirts wouldn’t allow the ball to be cleared and Morris was on hand in the 26th minute to smash home a deserved second.

After the second goal, Quorn began to get forward, and put together a good twenty minutes of football, creating a few half chances but rarely troubling Elliott Taylor in the home goal. The second half resumed in a similar fashion, with the Reds seeing the lion’s share of possession. Paddy Webb had a chance from the edge of the box, but his right-footed shot was comfortably claimed by Taylor.

Rose added his second, shortly after the hour, shooting low on the turn to squeeze his effort in to the bottom corner. Quorn continued to look for a way back in to the match, and had their best effort 10 minutes from time, as Reece Fyfe fired an effort from outside the box that Taylor did well to tip over the bar.

Miller struck the fourth in the 87th minute, a wonderful connection that let Woods no chance, and Daire put the cherry on top, deep in to stoppage time, as Harborough kept their distance from the chasing pack, vying for the lone automatic promotion place. Town were comfortably the better side on the day, but perhaps the 5-0 scoreline made it look easier than it was.

Quorn will take solace in the fact that their main rival for the final playoff place, Loughborough Dynamo, also fell to a 5-0 defeat on the road, meaning that victory away to Walsall Wood on Tuesday, would see the Reds move in to the playoff places. With just three matches to go, the stakes are higher than ever for Ant Carney’s side.