Kidderminster Harriers 1 Fleetwood 2 - Report

The Cods triumphed thanks to goals from Josh Earl and Shaun Rooney.

They pounced after Harriers had taken the lead through on-loan Bailey Hobson.

Fleetwood’s victory earned them prize-money of £41,000 and an away tie against Cambridge United in the next round.

Aggborough boss Russ Penn’s side’s exit from the competition leaves them to fully focus on their bid to move off the bottom of the National League table.

Kidderminster, taking on Fleetwood for the first time since 2012, made one change from the side beaten 3-1 at home against National League table-toppers Chesterfield the previous weekend with Hobson filling the space left by suspended Reiss McNally.

Harriers made a promising start and tested the visitors defence with a number of raids in the opening minutes which included Amari Morgan-Smith trying a shot from distance which dropped wide of the target.

Neither goalkeeper, however, had any serious problems in the opening quarter of an hour with the first corner of the game finally arriving in the 17th minute, but Fleetwood’s kick, taken by Phoenix Patterson, came to nothing.

Fleetwood had a good chance to break the deadlock on 21 minutes when their captain Josh Vela headed wide following an excellent cross into the danger zone by Patterson

The visitors had another decent opportunity shortly afterwards when Promise Omochere lifted the ball over the bar from close range in front of goal before the referee blew for a foul.

Further pressure by the Cods led to them forcing a trio of corners, the third being headed just wide by Earl

Harriers, however, grabbed the lead in the 44th minute when a neat build-up by Zak Brown and Ryan McLean led to Hobson slotting the ball into the net.

Fleetwood hit back a minute later when Earl was on hand to head an equaliser into the corner of the net following a corner by Patterson.

The visitors took just 60 seconds of the second half to storm into the lead when Rooney headed home from close range following a chipped cross by Earl.

They went close to adding a third soon after when an angled shot by Jack Marriott went agonisingly wide of the far post.

It was rapidly followed by a header from Ben Heneghan which was well pushed away for an unproductive corner by home goalkeeper Christian Dibble, who soon after was also needed to pull off a good save to deny Marriott

Harriers made a triple substitution on 74 minutes, but the changes failed to improve their fortunes.

Kidderminster: Dibble; Robinson, Penny, Pearce (Preston, 74), Richards; Maguire (McDonagh, 74), McLean (Hemmings, 74), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hobson; Brown (Lissimore, 81), Morgan-Smith (Phillips, 88). Subs not used: Palmer, Hewitt, Hall, Rubio.

Fleetwood: Lynch; Wiredu, Lawal (Holgate, 46), Vela, Mayor, Marriott (Graydon, 86), Heneghan, Omochere (Broom, 80), Rooney, Earl, Patterson (Tshimanga, 80), Subs not used: Roberton, Simons, Teale, McMullan.

Referee: Matthew Corlett

Attendance: 2,496 (119 away fans).