A glorious hat-trick by centre-forward David Ocqauye capped an excellent team display in which Borough outclassed their fellow Ryman Premier League strugglers to win a Trophy tie for the first time in three years.

Without Kevin McKenna, Wayne Walters, Fabio Valenti, Stuart Elliott and Danny Murphy, Borough nevertheless fielded a line-up that looked balanced and they dominated the early exchanges. Robert Charles’s first-minute cross brought a header from Ocquaye that keeper Rutherford saved. Constant Harrow pressure followed before, in the 10th minute, Ocquaye’s flick-on from Danny Moore’s long-throw drew a sharp turn and shot from Charles, the ball bouncing off the post with Rutherford beaten. Further efforts followed from Ross Fitzsimon and Abdulai Yoki, both saved. Charles then went clear of the defence but chose to shoot with his right foot instead of his left, which allowed a tackle to be made on him.

A Harrow goal was long overdue when it arrived in the 31st minute. Yoki sent Fitzsimon away on the right, and his deep cross was headed back across goal past Rutherford by Ocquaye.

The Borough goal was under little threat in the first period, although some good defending ensured that Fitzsimon’s loss of possession on the edge of the area came to nothing. Just before half time, Charles again got clear of the home defence and was stopped by a good tackle by Blackwell.

Harrow continued to dominate after the break. Fitzsimon’s 50th minute corner went right across the goal and was miscontrolled by Charles beyond the far post. He still managed to tee up Richard Goddard who shot over from 15 yards. Borough doubled their lead in the 55th minute. Yoki found Ocquaye on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, and he spun sharply and fired a vicious shot past Rutherford into the far corner of the goal.

It was nearly three on the hour, when a clever free-kick routine saw Fitzsimon’s curling shot crash of the underside of the bar. Ocquaye couldn’t quite control the loose ball and saw his effort blocked. Dean Marney flashed a header from the resultant corner past the far post.

A rare home attack saw Parratt shoot wide and the outstanding Marney stop another break with a great challenge. But the Harrow superiority continued to the end. Marney’s header from Fitzsimon’s free-kick brought a great save from Rutherford, Ocquaye picking up the loose ball and firing into the side-netting. Clemente Lopez set up Steve Dogbe for a fierce strike over the bar, before Fitzsimon spotted Rutherford off his line and tried a 40-yard chip that the home keeper back-pedalled to grab.

With the game moving into stoppage time, Ocquaye appeared to have lost the chance of a hat-trick when he shot just wide from 20 yards, but two minutes into added time he combined on the right with substitute Daniel Church and when Church’s cross was half-cleared, the big Welsh striker met the ball with a fierce strike from the edge of the box that flew past Rutherford.

  1 - Paul Rutherford
  2 - Steve Good
  3 - Lance Forrester
  4 - Ollie Blackwell
  5 - Bradley Green
  6 - Bradley Quinton
  7 - Kalam Mooniaruck
  8 - Dean Parratt
   (sub Lee Roberts 87)
  9 - Jerome Boyce
   (sub Gregg Williams 82)
10 - Victor Asambong
11 - Ben Cranfield
   (sub Allan Crosby 55)

  1 - Keita Karamoko
  2 - Perry Norman
  3 - Danny Moore
  4 - Steve Dogbe
  5 - Richard Goddard
  6 - Dean Marney
  7 - Abdulai Yoki
   (sub Daniel Church 89)
  8 - Robert Charles
  9 - David Ocquaye
10 - Ross Fitzsimon
11 - Clemente Lopez
   (sub Simon Underwood 90)

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