Kidderminster Harriers 3 Southport 0 - Report

The win extended Harriers’ unbeaten home run to an impressive 17 matches in all competitions.

The last time they lost at Aggborough was on the opening day of the season when they went down 1-0 against Chorley.

Harriers’ manager John Eustace, whose troops triumphed 3-0 at Southport in September, made a couple of changes from the side which crushed FC United of Manchester 4-0 at home earlier in the week.

Central defender Horsfall returned after a one-match ban while Joel Taylor was drafted into the starting line-up at full-back. James Pearson and Sam Austin dropped to the subs’ bench.

Kidderminster made a bright start, but had cause for concern when two early breakaways by former Aggborough campaigner Adam Dawson and Jason Gilchrist had the home defence at full stretch.

Free flowing Harriers had a good chance to open the scoring in the 11th minute when Declan Weeks, who used to play for the Sandgrounders, set up Sonupe for a shot which he steered harmlessly wide.

Four minutes later, however, the lively front-runner was bang on target with his 13th goal of the season which he notched when visiting goalkeeper Jon Worsnop was wrong footed by his deflected 20 yard shot.

Harriers doubled their lead on 20 minutes when Horsfall was left unmarked to head home a pin-point cross from James McQuilkin.

It became 3-0 in the 26th minute when McQuilkin again turned provider when he sent over another perfect cross which this time was nodded home by Ironside for his 17th goal of the campaign.

Harriers were soon on the front foot again in the second half which began with Southport making a couple of substitutions in a bid to boost their flagging fortunes.

Eustace also made a substitution on 57 minutes when Austin replaced Elton Ngwatala who had been injured shortly before in a tackle by David Lynch.

Recent Aggborough loan capture George Waring was also introduced soon after the hour mark, although Harriers were not as effective up front as they were in the opening half.

Striker Waring, however, almost got his name on the scoresheet in the 74th minute when he had a close range effort well clawed away to safety by the alert Worsnop.

Teams

Kidderminster: Hall; Vaughan, O’Connor, Horsfall, Taylor; Weeks, Croasdale, Ngwatala (Austin, 57); Sonupe (Waring, 66), Ironside (Wright, 80), McQuilkin. Subs not used: Pearson, Brown.

Southport: Worsnop; J. Richards, Howson, Priestley, C. Richards (Kelly 46); Lynch; Dawson (Charles 46), Morgan, Osborne, Sampson; Gilchrist. Subs not used: Halstead, Smith, Lowe.

Referee: James Bell (Sheffield).

Attendance: 1,968 (99 away fans).