Richards brace sees off Stafford

New signing Justin Richards put the Harriers on the way to their first win of the season tonight when his brace either side of the half time whistle, and a Gavin Hurren goal in-between, gave us a 3-1 win at local rivals Stafford Rangers.

Jon Munday made his debut for the team with Andy Ferrell dropping to the bench and Michael McGrath made a start after the surprise non appearance of Michael Blackwood, reportedly suffering from a back injury.    For Stafford there were a large number of new signing's, too many to mention here, but they looked to be a better side than than last season.

The 'old man' Neil Grayson is still turning out for them at the age of 42 and he still seems to have lost none of his talents.    Love him or hate him his work rate puts many a young starlet to shame.    Most of the Rangers attacks come through him and it would be fair to say that without Grayson then Stafford would lack serious firepower.

Luckily for us his shooting was slightly off target tonight but it did still put the hearts in the mouths of the Harriers fans that had travelled the relatively short distance up the A449, or M6 if you were daft.

The majority of the first half was spent watching hoof ball as the side failed to grasp the idea of passing the ball accurately with new signing Munday being the main culprit.    His defensive work is fine but he really does need to measure the pass to a front man with a bit less welly.

After surviving numerous close calls on Scott Bevan's goal it was the Harriers that took the lead against the run of play when Brian Smikle skipped down the wing to deliver a decent cross into the area.    Landing in a ruck of players it looked as if it might be cleared but Richards managed to get a foot onto the ball to poke it past Danny Alcock for the opener.

For the next ten minutes the Harriers took advantage of the goal superiority and started to pass the ball around well but then on the stroke of half time the hosts grabbed a goal back.

Stafford were having an attack on our goal and the ball was cleared, but only for a short distance, by Gavin Hurren.    It fell just right for one of their new signing's, Sebastian Arnolin, to fire in a cracking shot that left Bevan rooted to the spot.