Kidderminster Harriers 4 Nuneaton Borough 1 - Match report

Manager Mark Yates’ men were also boosted by a penalty by another ex-Nuneaton player Joe Ironside.

Bolstered by seven points from their last three outings, eighth placed Harriers now face a testing run of matches against Chorley, Spennymoor Town, Brackley Town, Altrincham and Bradford (Park Avenue) who are all above them in the table.

Kidderminster, who drew 1-1 at Nuneaton in November, were unchanged from the side that won 1-0 at relegation-haunted Ashton United earlier in the week.

The visitors’ substitutes’ bench contained midfielder James Baxendale who made a number of appearances for Harriers this season – mainly as a sub – before moving to Liberty Way.

Harriers made a promising start and within the opening couple of minutes Billy Daniels tried his luck with low 25 yard drive which whistled just wide of the post.

Shortly afterwards Ed Williams fired in another powerful long range shot which flew past goalkeeper Cameron Belford before rebounding off the bar.

Nuneaton then managed to deal with a low free kick by Liam McAlinden from just outside the area which found its way through the visitors’ defensive ‘wall’ before being safely gathered by well positioned Belford.

Harriers continued to plug away, but had their first major scare on 21 minutes when they were caught out by a long throw-in from Rhys Sharpe which reached Taylor Allen who slid in with a shot which was well saved by goalkeeper Brandon Hall.

Kidderminster’s attacking efforts were finally rewarded in the 26th minute when a deep cross from Williams was volleyed home by Chambers who had not scored since netting twice in his side’s 2-0 home win over Brackley on December 8.

Nuneaton, however, hit back on 38 minutes when Hall punched a free kick by Allen out for a corner which led to Michael Townsend bundling in an equaliser against the run of play.

Just before half time Chambers set up McAlinden for a shot which he blasted high over the bar before Chambers then had a close range header well saved by Belford in a crowded goalmouth.

Harriers regained the lead three minutes after the interval when a shot from Chambers was handled by Townsend to enable Ironside to slot home the penalty for his 11th goal of the season.

Shortly afterwards Ironside was denied another goal when he had a shot well saved by Belford who was soon called on again to push over a fierce drive from Williams.

Man-of-the-match Chambers made it 3-1 on 79 minutes when he scored with a far post header following a cross from McAlinden.

He confidently completed his hat-trick ten minutes later with a well taken goal when he had only Belford to beat.

TEAMS

Kidderminster: Hall; Austin, Horsfall, Johnson, Taylor; Penn (Richards, 89), Daniels, Williams (Butterfield, 82), Chambers (Taylor-Randle 90), McAlinden; Ironside. Subs not used: Higginson, Heaton.

Nuneaton: C. Belford; Obeng, Townsend, Addison, Calveley (Birch, 71), Sharpe; Evans (Baxendale, 67), Lussey, Lundstram; Edmunds, Allen (Morrison, 83). Subs not used: T. Belford, Nabay.

Referee: Sam Mulhall.

Attendance: 1,539 (56 away fans).