Bromsgrove Rovers 2(0) v (4)4 Kidderminster Harriers

Harriers' summer signings were finally able to make their first appearance in a red shirt and their quality shone through in a comfortable victory.

All six players: Wayne Evans, Darryl Burgess, Martin O'Connor, Terry Fleming, Laurie Wilson and Michael Blackwood all started the match, the influence was clear to see as Harriers raced away with the game.  Harriers could, and maybe should, have taken an early lead; first when Blackwood curled a free-kick over the wall and the bar and then when he jinked into the penalty area on the left to create a great chance for himself but saw his shot saved by the feet of Lee Evans in the Rovers goal.

Youngster Wilson opened the scoring after 16 minutes; Fleming had the ball on the right and his attempted pass into the centre took a horrendous deflection of a Rovers defender and dropped into the path of the former Burton man on the opposite flank who had plenty of time to tuck the ball under Evans.

Harriers dominated the first half and should have gone further ahead when Simon Russell cut inside on the left but blazed his shot over the bar.  The advantage was double twelve minutes before the break; Harriers carved through the home defence again, Blackwood was involved again on the left, he rolled the ball square to Russell who helped it onwards to Iyseden Christie in acres of space on the right and he was able to pick his spot and curl it into the bottom corner.  A third goal came soon afterwards; Martyn O'Connor was fouled on the edge of the penalty area but referee Ian Scarr allowed play to continue as the ball had run to Wilson who angled a shot across goal into the far corner.  The game was finished as a contest by half time as Harriers added another in stoppage time; Blackwood played a neat one-two with Russell and poked the return just inside the foot of Evans' right-hand post.

The second half was a completely different game; Rovers made nine substitutions and Harriers four and the flow that had been there in the first half dried up completely.  Rovers tried to get themselves back into the game with two smartly taken goals in the space of four minutes around the hour mark, briefly bringing back memories of the time Harriers blew a three-goal lead to lose on the same ground in a Conference fixture in 1995.  First a long ball through the heart of the Harriers defence set Aaron Blakemore free and he shot across Dan Lewis into the far corner then Lewis was caught out by a speculative shot from distance by Scott Hadland. After the total domination of the first half Harriers couldn't muster a single shot at goal in the second.  Some of the new players were taken off, clearly lacking fitness to make it through a full game yet, but with O'Connor, Fleming and Blackwood gone the midfield looked sadly lacking.  The Rovers recovery was short-lived and Harriers were able to see out the game for a comfortable victory.