Exciting League Cup win for Harwich over neighbours Wivenhoe

Wivenhoe were the first to attack with Dean Merrett's effort striking the post. The visitors continued to make the early running but then Harwich settled and took the lead in the 25th minute when a flowing move ended with Sean Bartlett finishing well, sending his shot into the far corner of the net. The Shrimpers went close again with Joe Knight's header hitting the post. Wivenhoe equalised in th 35th minute, David Lopez breaking through and lobbing the ball over keeper Bradley Cook. Two minutes later Harwich regained the lead when Kevin Coyle crossed and Knight headed home. Harwich had the opportunity to increase their lead when Jordan Heath was brought down but goalkeeper Ben Gallifant dived to save his penlty kick. There was just time for Cook to make a good save to keep Harwich 2-1 lead in tact at half time. Three minutes after
the restart Rory Harman made a run to the edge of the penalty area before chipping the ball over Gallifant. Wivenhoe came back with Ross James kick striking the crossbar . Harwich were reduced to 10 men when Harman was shown a second yellow card. In the 75th minutes there was some clever footwork by Wivenhoe which took the ball into the Harwich penaly area and Tom Larkin netted the visitors second goal. Wivenhoe pressed in their efforts to take the match beyond the approaching 90 minutes and Larkin hit the bar with a free kick. With a couple of minutes to go there was a chase for a through ball towards the Harwich penalty area which resulted in a serious collison involving the advancing goalkeeper Cook, a Wivenhoe attacker, and Harwich defender. All three were grounded and had to have lengthy treatment. The Wivenoe player and Cook were unable to take any further part in the game. Heath went in goal for Harwich as the Shrimpers saw out the the last few kicks of the match.