The Harriers made a mockery of League positions today with a convincing win against a Cheltenham side that get the dubious honour of being the second worst side seen at Aggborough this season.  A couple of weeks ago Chester City gained first place even though they beat us but the Robins ran them very close.

For us this win took us back above Cambridge Utd and within four points of Rushden after they both lost out to late goals in their games at Bury and Scunthorpe.  A good result for us at Notts County next week will set us up nicely for the visit of the Direones the following week.

We started the game with an unchanged side from the draw at Rochdale last Saturday and it was a former Cheltenham man, Bertrand Cozic, who was the first on the lookout for a goal within a minute of the start.  Blair Sturrock put in a cross for the waiting Frenchman to toe poke it in only to see the ex Wusster keeper, Shane Higgs push it round for a corner.

That corner and the quick to follow three others all came to nothing when really we should be making them pay just as Shrewsbury did.

Lee Jenkins then played in Blair but just as he was about to strike the visitors Gavin Caines put a foot across him to push the ball away and then Cheltenham got their first sniff at goal when Steve Guinan got the ball past John Danby.  Luckily for us Mark Jackson managed to shield the ball out to safety.

In the aftermath to that it appeared that John had injured his hand and a lengthy spell followed while the injury, a dislocation, was tended.  The reserve keeper, Daniel Lewis, started to warm up but in the end he wasn't called on.  I would've put Keatesy in goal anyway!!

Back up the other end, in what had been a scrappy wind spoilt game so far, and Blair Sturrock shot wide from a chance that he should have done better with.  Likewise with a shot from Guinan for the visitors when he did the same a minute later.

We were well in the ascendancy now and a header from Mark Jackson went close and so did a header from Brian Wilson, no not that one, that almost went into his own net.

The hail came down ten minutes from time and it must have been hard for the lads to play in such cold,wet conditions.  The force of it also pushed the Cheltenham fans towards the back of the South Stand in an effort to escape the down pour but we didn't feel sorry for them.  It can only help them understand how visiting fans feel when exposed to the elements at the Whaddon Rd fleapit.

With the three minutes of injury time almost up John McGrath fired a shot in but, having beaten Higgs, also beat the outside of the post and the ball rolled away without doing any damage to the scoreline.

There was a substitution for us at the restart with Simon Weaver coming on for Lee Jenkins following a recurrence of his knee injury.  Simon slotted in naturally in the right back spot vacated by Jenks.

Three minutes later and we had got the lead our play had deserved and a lead that we easily held on to until the end.

Following the first half hail storm the wind had now dropped and we won another corner after a bit of pressure in front of goal.  Dean Keates sent the ball over for Johnny Mullins to place a perfect, powered header into the back of the visitors net.

The game then turned into a one way street with the Harriers piling on even more pressure in an effort to increase the lead.  A close range shot from Blair went over and then he had another chance after the irrepressible Chris Beardsley played him in but again he couldn't get it on target.

Beardsley was now running the show and giving the Cheltenham full back, Gill, a torrid time.  He has this marvelous trick of playing the ball off his opponent to gain a corner and Gill fell for this at least three times that I can think of.

He was also getting into the box more and must be disappointed that he couldn't get his name onto the scoresheet.

Twenty minutes into the half and the Robins boss, John Ward, made a double substitution when he took off one donkey, Guinan, to bring on another donkey, Damien Spencer.  Odejayi was the other sub replacing Ashley Vincent.

To be fair to Cheltenham they did look more of a threat after the changes but Danby, and our defence, was equal to it.

Sturrock and Beardo combined again to confuse the Cheltenham defence but somehow the ball didn't run right and Blair put the chance well wide with fans and player alike holding their heads in dis-belief.

Cheltenham actually had the ball in the net ten minutes from the end but Caines effort was ruled out following a push on Wayne Hatswell by Odejayi and we then started to make sure that we kept hold of our richly deserved three points by keeping possession of the ball for the remainder of the game.

The final whistle was met with the news that Cambridge and Rushden had lost and for the first time in ages the Harriers faithful left Aggborough with a smile on their faces.