Kidderminster Harriers 4(1) v (2)3 Walsall

Harriers staged a valiant comeback from a nightmare start to win a thrilling encounter with Dean Keates' shot clinching the game in the last minute.

Micky Mellon was introduced for the first time, he is expected to sign a two-year contract on Monday, and he partnered former Walsall man Dean Keates and triallist Rob O'Brien in the Harriers midfield.  Chris McHale stepped down to give French triallist Frédéric Advice-Desrulsseaux another run-out.  Harriers had the worst possible start, however, falling behind after just two minutes when Gary Birch, who scored the goals that won the corresponding fixture for Walsall last season, rose to head in Darren Wrack's right wing cross.  Worse was to come ten minutes later when Matt Fryatt ran through the heart of the Harriers defence and then slotted a shot across John Danby and inside the far post.

Mellon did his best to get Harriers back into the game with a surging run from deep that ended with a long-range shot that drifted just wide of Richard McKinney's left-hand post.  Midway through the half Harriers lost Abdou Sall to injury, carried off on a stretcher after a challenge with Fryatt that left him with a suspected broken leg.  Just before the interval Harriers were given hope when Youssou Diop picked up the ball on the left wing and hit a blistering shot from the corner of the penalty area that flew into the far top corner.

After the break Harriers needed just 72 seconds to level the scores; Lee Jenkins' forward pass found Mellon and he lifted a gentle lob over the head of McKinney to score.  Harriers began to get themselves into the game more as it opened up and had a lot of good possession that could have given them the lead.  Jesper Christiansen was guilty of wasting good chances on more than one occassion; a jinking run from Simon Brown opened up the Walsall defence and he squared the ball to the tall Dane who didn't get a good enough contact on it and the shot proved a bigger danger to the corner flag than the goal.  Soon afterwards Diop did well to beat the full back and cross from the left wing but his ball to the far post found Christiansen who headed wide.  At the other end Walsall's influential player-manager Paul Merson chipped a cross from the right edge of the penalty area to the far post where Birch got up well but headed over the bar.

Walsall regained the lead midway through the half, Fryatt getting his second when he took the ball around Danby and shot home from a narrow angle.  The lead didn't last very long, Harriers were awarded a free kick that Keates took quickly, releasing Brown into the penalty area where he was brought down by McKinney.  Ian Foster stepped forward to take the kick and sent McKinney the wrong way, tucking the shot inside the keeper's left-hand post.

As the game ebbed and flowed both sides looked for a winner, Danby was alert to save twice; first from Julian Bennett and then to deny Fryatt his hat-trick.  Foster won the ball on the right and crossed low into the penalty area where Christiansen just failed to connect with the ball.  The winner came in the last minute; Harriers attacked on the right, Appleby laid the ball back to Keates who lashed it home from 25 yards out.