Richards bemoans penalty miss

The striker missed the all important penalty on Wednesday night in an epic 13-12 shoot out, sending Harriers tumbling out in the third round replay.

It was history repeating itself, with Richards also foiled from the spot last season when they bowed out against Weymouth.

Teammates and manager Mark Yates alike went to great pains to absolve Richards from blame at York, after all he had netted the equaliser in a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes and scored an earlier spot kick in the shoot out.

It seems the only blame directed at the 16-goal top scorer is from the man himself.

He said: "Everybody says it is a lottery, but I feel I should have scored from there. I have not missed many before, in fact the only one I missed for Harriers was in the FA Trophy last season! I am obviously disappointed, but it's done now.

"As a striker it is even worse, my business is to score goals."

Harriers' focus now rests solely on their Blue Square Premier campaign, in which they are still firmly in the frame for a play-off place and the chance to win their place back in the Football League come May.

It would be the club's first promotion since 2000 and their first season in the league since 2004/05.

But another carrot would be the holy grail of a play-off final - and a showpiece decider at Wembley.

Richards would take that over the FA Trophy any day.

He said: "As a player, I would rather be at Wembley in the play-off final rather than in the FA Trophy final. We wanted to win the trophy, we all did, but it didn't come off for us this time. We have to accept that and move on.

"We've got to try and push on now with the next two home games we have, that is our chance to get right back into the play-off places.

"We are right in the mix - so we need to be on our toes and pick up as many points between now and the end of the season."