Kidderminster Harriers 1-0 Sutton Coldfield Town

Sutton went down to defeat in the opening round of the League Cup at Kidderminster Harriers

A much tighter affair than the previous League encounter was anticipated, and this certainly proved to be the case

In a very uneventful first-half, the first shot of any description did not come until 10 minutes before half-time, when a long-range effort was comfortably dealt with by Sutton goalkeeper Charlotte McElroy

7 minutes later a shot from even further out was again dealt with by McElroy without concern

Charlotte Worth was forced off through injury in first-half stoppage-time

HT - 0-0

The first chance of the second-half came after 54 minutes, when a ball into the Sutton penalty-area was put wide of the far-post

Sutton’s first chance of the game came 2 minutes later and saw a shot deflected out for a corner-kick

A second corner in quick succession saw a chance from close-range blocked by a Kidderminster defender, with the rebound being struck wide from just outside the box

On 65 minutes a Kidderminster free-kick was put over the crossbar

3 minutes later a strike from the edge of the penalty-area was again dealt with well by McElroy in the Sutton goal

On 83 minutes Aimee Taylor had Sutton’s best chance up until that point when played through on goal, however her shot was straight at the Kidderminster goalkeeper

A minute later Kidderminster took the lead, when a cross was diverted into the net by a defender for an own-goal

In injury-time, a point-blank save from the Kidderminster keeper was followed up by the rebound being put wide a second, later preventing Sutton from drawing level with their last chance of the game

FT - 0-1

Player-of-the-Match was debutant Freya Smith who looked confident and assured beyond her years throughout the game