Penalty heroics see Kidderminster Harriers through in FA Trophy

Dibble saved from Joe Riley and Ethan Mitchell as Harriers claimed a 3-0 shoot-out victory to beat their National League Premier hosts and advance to the fourth round.

In one of the few matches to go ahead in the north-west, played in the eye of Storm Darragh, the visitors raced into a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes thanks to goals from Amari Morgan-Smith and Ryley Reynolds.

But the hosts, managed by former Albion striker Kevin Phillips, hit back through Charlie Jolley and Nick Haughton to send the tie to penalties, where Dibble promptly took centre stage.

Brown said: “When I have Christian Dibble in goal, I am having him all day long when it goes to a penalty shoot-out. I was feeling pretty positive about it.

“We came here with a gameplan and the belief we could upset the applecart against a team from a higher division and we did that in no uncertain terms in the first half.

“It could have been three or four-nil to us in the first half. The game had everything.” 

Dibble made his first save in the shoot-out from Riley after Haughton had sent the home side’s first penalty against the post. When the keeper then repeated the trick to keep out Mitchell’s effort it allowed Zak Brown to slam home the winning spot-kick and send Harriers through.

Boss Brown later paid tribute to both clubs and the officials for getting the game on in dreadful conditions which had prompted several other more high-profile matches in the region, most notably the Merseyside derby, to be postponed.

Harriers and Fylde had remained in dialogue throughout the morning, with Brown quipping the fast start made by his team then left the referee no option but to finish the game. 

He said: “We scored a couple of early goals and now he has to finish the game because there are going to be ructions.

“But you had Blackpool’s game cancelled, the Merseyside derby cancelled, Aintree cancelled. How this game survived is nothing sort of genius by the people of Fylde.

“The pitch was outstanding. The countryside has been absolutely battered with rain and wind and you name it. For this fixture to survive is testament to a lot of people.

“I’m not saying everything we did was right on the pitch because we have conceded a couple of goals. 

“But there is a feelgood factor of winning a penalty shoot-out and this showed we have competition for places. That is the biggest positive for me.”

While Harriers went through, Rushall Olympic went out as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Gainsborough Trinity despite a stunning goal from Milan Lalkovic.

The former Walsall forward curled in a shot from the edge of the area to bring the visitors level just past the hour mark. But Declan Howe, who had earlier opened the scoring, grabbed his second of the afternoon 16 minutes front time to see the hosts through.