At Last, Kiddy’s Secret Is Out!

THANK YOU Joe Lolley. It may have been short and sweet – no pun intended, honest – but it's been a pleasure.

Not only have you been a headline writer's dream, in the five games I've seen you in the flesh, I've been on the edge of my Press box seat.

I'm supposed to be neutral. But I defy anyone – journalist, opposition fan or manager – not to be excited by such a natural talent who plays the game how we all wanted to in the playground. Pace, dribbling ability, directness and goals. The whole package.

In recent seasons I've been privileged to see the farewell 90 minutes played by Jamie Vardy and George Boyd before they went onto make record transfer moves out of .

Vardy's last run-out for Fleetwood against Luton in 2012 before his £1m move to Leicester wasn't as memorable as Boyd's for Stevenage against Aldershot on New Year's Day 2007, but the ex- and FC Halifax flyer had already wowed me in earlier games – and the Cod Army had the title in the bag.

The irony of Peterborough being the venue of Lolley's last stand in a Kiddy shirt wasn't lost on me; London Road was Boyd's destination in that £260,000 switch, and in terms of performance and impact, the Harrier-turned-Huddersfield Terrier pulled Posh apart in Tuesday's FA?Cup third round replay there.

Having already agreed personal terms with the Championship side, you could forgive the 21-year-old for not wanting to play in the two games Kiddy were desperate for him to stay for. One crunching challenge could ruin the move, costing him a career and Kiddy over £250,000.

His response? A hat-trick against to bid adieu to Aggborough last Saturday and a wonderful winner followed by a shy wave on Tuesday on a League One stage Posh boss Darren Ferguson had hoped would be his on a regular basis.

As Harriers played a containing game in the first half, Lolley had few opportunities to shine. One early shot went tamely into keeper Bobby Olejnik's arms and a second, just before half-time with Harriers one behind, flew high over the London Road End's crossbar.

“If that's all you can do, Huddersfield are welcome to you,” yelled one home fan, while a regular near the Press box asked me which player Posh had been interested in, and how ‘they wouldn't have been paying much though, would they?' when I told him it was the right winger.

In all fairness, the high-vis vest wearing builder who returned to his digger behind the Moy's Terrace goal for some nocturnal overtime/great free view of the game stood out more than Lolley in that opening 45.

When I explained to the inquisitive supporter and local journalists exactly where young Joe had come from in the last six months, I put it in Non-League layman's terms.

‘He was at level 10 of English last season,' I said, ‘and that's not much further up than playing on the park. He plays like he's still got jumpers down for goalposts, just gets the ball under control and runs with it before getting his shot off'.

Then I prayed he'd do something special in the second half to sign off in style. I didn't need to pray for long. One mazy run past four players only took him across the middle of the pitch, but after the first slalom I was able to mutter: ‘Here he goes…'

The immense Michael Gash equalised in the 48th minute, then Lolley left Nat Knight-Percival for dead on the right flank around halfway, before cutting inside and squaring for Jack Byrne – another star performer – to curl in Kiddy's second.

Posh managed an equaliser from the penalty spot, but two minutes later Lolley cut in from the right wing again, drifted past a couple of dangled legs and unleashed an unstoppable left-foot shot inside Olejnik's near post for a famous winner.

I don't know how many of the 88 goals he scored in 83 matches for in the Midland Combination were like that, but it's become his trademark in the Skrill Premier. It was a goal to light up any match – and set up a match at the Stadium of Light, if, unselfishly, not for himself.

‘We want more cash for you, we want more cash for you!' sang the brilliant, boisterous Harriers fans, who gave him a Broadhall Way to Boyd-like ovation when new manager Andy Thorn subbed him just before the end. Harriers were magnificent as a whole, but you have to put Lolley on a stick. The script couldn't have been penned more perfectly.

His more experienced Kiddy team-mates have pointed at the ‘LOLLEY' on the back of his shirt when celebrating his goals this season. Just before 10pm on Tuesday, they almost had to force the coy kid to step forward and accept the applause he was receiving. Again, reminiscent of Boyd.  They couldn't point to his name on his shirt because he had a sub's coat on, but they soon had that off and the red number 21 hurled into the travelling throng.

Some lucky supporter will have a memento reminding him of the magic of the , and the kind of rise in footballing fortune everyone is fond of.

“8 leagues in 9 months – don't give up your dreams kids”, tweeted the University of Central Lancashire graduate after passing his Huddersfield medical the following day.

Ex-Kiddy boss Steve Burr gave Lolley his chance
Ex-Kiddy boss gave Lolley his chance

When the Peterborough fan turned to me before he left and said ‘You've got plenty to write about now…I won't forget that name', it reminded me of what James Ellis told me before taking Lolley to the World University Games last summer.

“Look at the squad list, Stu,” said the Great Britain head coach, pointing at a player assistant Steve Guinan had already told his other boss, Kiddy's Steve Burr, about in time for a pre-season trial. “He's only at Littleton now, but remember the name. You'll be writing a lot about him next season.”

Burr jokingly gestured at me to keep quiet when I mentioned him in front of 's Dale Belford, AFC Telford's Liam Watson and Nuneaton's Kevin Wilkin when we all met up in early July.  We couldn't for long.

A quickfire hat-trick at and he was offering a one-year deal and likening him in these pages to former Boro protégé Malcolm Christie.

Neither the now ex-Harriers boss and Ellis were wrong.

Joe Lolley – not a name that is ever likely to be uttered quietly, let alone forgotten, in Kidderminster again.

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  1. Reported on Chasetown v Kidderminster in pre-season and said at the time how special he looked as a player as he scored a technically awesome hat-trick in a few minutes as substitute. Delighted for him.

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