The Harriers almost made their place in the 3rd Division safe after this thrilling win at home to high fliers Huddersfield Town.  The only blot on an otherwise solid performance was a moment of stupidity from Ian Foster when he retaliated after being shoved over un-ceremoniously on the touchline by a Terriers defender.

There were a few surprises prior to the kick off when the team was announced.  No Scott Stamps, Leon Clarke, John Williams or Adam Murray.  The reason for Murray being missing was later given as maternity leave.

Again there was no place for Scott Rickards but a youth team player, Chris McHale, did make the bench at his expense.

Steve Burton made his first start since he signed for the club and Jesper Christiansen made his first start for ages when he took John Williams place.  On top of that there was a recall from Cinderford for Abdou Sall who slotted into the right back position.

The game started off with pressure from the Harriers when they fashioned a chance that Matt Gadsby could only place onto the top of the opposition netting.  This was followed by a shot from Ian Foster that was the cleared away upfield by the Huddersfield defence.

It was Huddersfield that went on the offence after that opening spurt.  Luckily for us their forwards didn't seem up to much and their shots were either wild or misplaced.  Booth and Abbott, both highly rated, were the worst offenders.

It was our on loan superstar, Simon Brown, who was to get the first real chance of a goal for the Harriers when he collected a pass from Sall, took the ball inside the Terriers defender, only to see his powerful shot pushed away for a corner by the on loan Charlton keeper, Rachubka.

Brown was giving the Hudds defence a hard time and they ended up making sure there were at least two men near him at all times.  He had another chance just minutes later when Fozzie played him in but he could only watch as his rising shot was tipped over the bar for another corner.

This was to be a momentous corner for us.  It was to be the first corner that we have scored directly from for almost two years.

Steve Burton took it and sent it towering to the far post where Wayne Hatswell was perfectly placed to return it with interest.

With the Reds now firmly in charge the last thing we needed was that moment of sheer stupidity from Ian Foster.  He was shoulder charged by Holdsworth on the touchline and, at first, he protested to the ref and then walked away but for some reason known only to himself he then turned round to face up to the Terriers captain Efe Sodje and slapped him in the face.  He was off,  no question!  no argument!

With time running out for half time Huddersfield came close to grabbing an equaliser on two occasions.  The first one saw the ex Sheffield Wednesday striker, Andy Booth, hit the bar and then Pawel Abbott shot well wide when he should have scored easily.

The second period started with a substitution for Huddersfield when Harkins replaced the injured Steve Yates.

It took the Harriers just under ten further minutes to extend their lead with a marvelous goal from Simon Brown with a little help from Hudds Lloyd.  He picked the ball up near the half way line and took it to the edge of the area, cut in, shimmied a little and sent the ball flying towards the goal.  It would have gone in anyway but Lloyd thought he'd make sure.

Soon after there was another moment of controversy when Mark Yates was clattered by David Mirfin.  With Yatesy lying prone on the floor and Jimmy trying to get the studs back out of his face the referee failed to take the appropriate action by sending Mirfin off.  Instead he had a booking but even more amazingly the prat also booked Yates for getting himself studded.

The Harriers were well and truly on top of their game now and Huddersfield were struggling to break us down.  They were until Jan decided to make a switch around.

He took off the struggling Jesper and the magical Brown.  Big mistake because while Brown was on the pitch Huddersfield were having to keep him well marked with two or three players shadowing his every move.  This hadn't seemed to bother him but once he had left the field that gave Huddersfield two spare men and they made the most of it.

Town were now in the ascendancy and making the most of it by pressuring our back four relentlessly.  It would be only a matter of time before we cracked.

Crack we did in the 84th minute.  Harkins sent a cross in and although Sall was sandwiched between two Hudd forwards he could only put the ball into the back of his own net.

The pressure then became really intense and Huddersfield threw in everything, including the washing up bowl.

With the Harriers fans trying to make time run away with itself and urging the ref to blow his whistle Huddersfield tried to make his day by getting the equaliser.  Two late attempts of getting a point fell for Holdsworth and Booth but thankfully they failed to take them and it ended as a great result for us and took us back up to 16th in the table and almost safe.