Harriers glean positives from defeat

Kidderminster boss Mark Yates believes his side will learn lessons from their 3-2 defeat at Grays in the Blue Square Premier.

A whirlwind second half saw Grays race into a 2-0 lead, before Justin Richards pulled a goal back. Harriers missed a host of chances to get firmly back into the game and were then hit by a true sucker punch - Barry Cogan making it 3-1.

Matthew Barnes-Homer made it 3-2 with a minute to go but it was too little, too late for Kidderminster.

Yates will mull over the events that led to defeat this week but is confident his side will learn from such a game.

He said: "They haven't given us the DVD yet of the game, so I need to watch that and gather a few thoughts. We had the chances to win the game, didn't take them and got caught out a couple of times.

"But I was pleased with us in attack. Grays played a system that we were not expecting and yet we still scored twice. They packed their midfield and played with just the one striker, so for both of our strikers to score was encouraging.

"It just didn't happen for us. We gave away a couple of soft goals and missed four or five chances that could have changed the game."

Grays at the same time arrested a run of four defeats in a row with a victory but it could have easily gone the other way - if the Harriers had finished a little better and paid more attention at the back.

Yates is expecting the odd lapse - but don't make a habit of it.

He said: "It was another learning curve for us but we know we are not far away. People forget we have a young side here and they will make the odd mistake. Games like this will teach them those lessons.

"The more disappointing thing is where we could have been in the table. We could have been one of five teams on 14 points if we had won."