Collins equaliser earns Town a draw in friendly at Aggborough
James Collins' second-half equaliser earned Shrewsbury Town a draw in the pre-season friendly at Kidderminster Harriers on Tuesday night.Reece Styche's 19th-minute goal had given Harriers a half-time lead at Aggborough, but after manager Micky Mellon made changes in the second half, Collins cooly converted past Jasbir Singh with less than 20 minutes to go against the Skrill Premier side.
Town, donning their new yellow and black away strip for the first time, had to deal with a number of aerial balls from the home side in the first half, but midfielder Liam Lawrence tested Jasbir Singh from long range after a dummy by Aaron Wildig.
It took an impressive save from Jayson Leutwiler at the other end to keep Harriers at bay early on as Aman Verma's low, long-range strike looked destined for the bottom corner.
And the only goal came four minutes later as Ahmed Obeng nicked the ball off Jermaine Grandison, burst towards goal and aimed low for the far corner.
Leutwiler palmed the effort away but Styche was nearby to turn and roll the ball into the empty net.
Town looked to hit back six minutes later as Jordan Clark fed Collins into space on the inside left, but the latter hit his effort across goal straight into Singh's hands.
There were two opportunities for Kiddy to double their lead at the other end as well.
First, Styche latched on to a long ball forward and managed to prod the ball towards goal, with Leutwiler having to rush out and save with his legs.
Josh Gowling then rose highest from Callum Gittings' corner on the left but headed over at the far post.
Collins again tried his luck from a tight angle for Town at the other end, while Liam Lawrence drilled a long-range free-kick narrowly over the top right corner, but Town went in behind at the break.
HALF-TIME: KIDDERMINSTER 1-0 TOWN
Town attacked their travelling supporters in the second period and, early on, Mickey Demetriou broke forward on the left flank and crossed for Collins who headed over.
A free-kick from Andy Robinson also proved dangerous from 25 yards out, with the ball looping narrowly over the crossbar after a deflection off the wall.
Harriers substitute Chey Dunkley should have doubled the home side's lead in the 69th minute, though, when he rose highest but guided a free header over from Kevin Nicholson's in-swinging free-kick.
And his miss was made to pay in the 72nd minute when substitute Ryan Woods crossed from deep, Goldson chested the ball towards Collins inside the box and the striker cooly side-footed low into the far corner to equalise.
Substitute Andy Mangan tried his luck from long range to try and find a winner for Town with ten minutes to go, but Singh got across his goal to hold the strike.
Defender Cameron Gayle then crossed from deep on the right but Collins' header, low towards the near corner, was turned away well by Singh, and it remained all square at full-time.
Town will travel to Altrincham on Friday night for their final pre-season friendly (7.45pm kick-off) before kicking off their Sky Bet League 2 season on August 16.
FULL-TIME: KIDDERMINSTER 1-1 TOWN
TOWN LINE-UP: Leutwiler, Gayle, Demetriou, Lawrence (c), Grandison, Knight-Percival, Clark, Wildig, Collins, Robinson, Caton.
SUBS: Burton, Goldson, Mangan, Ellis, Vincent, Smith, Ginnelly, Woods.
GOALS: Collins (72).
KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP: Singh, Hodgkiss, Nicholson, Byrne, Gash, Styche, Obeng, Grimes, Verma, Gittings, Gowling.
SUBS: Lewis, Green, Dunkley, Reid, O’Keefe, Hales.
GOALS: Styche (19).
ATTENDANCE: 1,010