Harriers crack the Diamonds

Kidderminster Harriers recorded a fortuitous victory over former rivals Rushden and Diamonds at Aggborough this evening, despite disorganised and poor defending at times coupled with a sharp looking Rushden side.  Dave Hankin returned to the side following an impressive display against Southport but again failed to impress on home soil.  The away side boasted the likes of Tim Sills formerly of Torquay United who is a proven striker in this league.

After a quiet opening quarter of an hour the Harriers opened the scoring following a corner from the left from Matty Blair which missed the players in the box.  Hankin then picked the ball up and ran into the area only to be taken down by Michael Corcoran.  The referee subsequently gave a penalty which was hit into the left hand side of the goal by Chris McPhee, banishing memories of his penalty miss against Rushden last season.

Following the Harriers taking the lead Rushden nearly earned themselves an equaliser after Rene Howe received the ball on the left hand side then ran into the box and slotted a ball across the face of goal to Sills who should've buried the ball into the net but he sidefooted his effort onto the top of the bar and over.

Howe was providing the Harriers with no end of problems and he nearly got a goal for himself just after when again he received the ball on the left and, with nobody closing him down, cut into the area and hit a shot straight at Danny Lewis who tipped it over the bar.  The resulting corner came to nothing.

The next and last major event of the half was a somewhat arguable booking for Jamie Day in the respect that it could've been a red after he steamed in on Dave Hankin possibly with both feet and walked away with a yellow from the more than lenient referee.

In the 51st minute Day should have walked for an aerial challenge on Keith Briggs as he lead firmly with his arm and elbow and caught Briggs round the face.  Usually this would call for an early bath on its own but referee Ross from Lincolnshire decided otherwise and only gave Day a talking to before moving on.

Four minutes later and Marc Williams was brought down on the edge of the area by Corcoran who might've been the last man and so preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity.  Again the referee didn't see fit to caution him and the free kick from Briscoe although hard, was cleared away.

Briscoe nearly did get a goal for himself minutes later from a short corner by Hankin to Lee Vaughan who crossed the ball in to Briscoe who then met the ball with a firm header and caught Joe Day out of his goal but the header went over the bar.

Burr then made some changes bringing Nick Wright on for Lee Morris and Tom Shaw on for Hankin who again had under performed.  The first major action from either of them saw Wright sprint with the ball down the right but the cross didn't match the run and was cleared away easily.

These changes didn't relieve the mounting pressure on the Harriers and in the last twenty five minutes they were definitely under the cosh from the Rushden onslaught and were lucky not to concede at least one goal.  The main goal threat was coming from substitute Craig Farrell with one shot which looked to be going into Danny Lewis' bottom left hand corner but it went wide at the last minute.

Kidderminster held on though and walked away with three points that puts them up to eighth place in the table – three points off the play-offs.

If the Harriers want to continue their playoff challenge then they must win the next game on Saturday away at Histon.  A side who were predicted at the start of the season to be struggling at the foot of the table but have proved critics wrong and sit three places clear of the relegation zone.  In the past Harriers have a tendency to play well against the decent sides and the opposite against poor sides.  This trend needs to stop if we want to progress this season and Saturday is as good place as any to start.

 Goal for Harriers: McPhee 16 (pen)

REFEREE:

Mr S Ross Lincolnshire