Worcester City 2(0) v (0)3 Kidderminster Harriers

Despite going behind, Harriers came out on top in the local derby and put Worcester firmly in their place.  City, on the top of their game, were unable to match a Harriers side that still has rough edges and it was The Reds who were shown to be the Pride of Worcestershire.

Jan Molby used a cut-down squad, naming only fifteen players, and left out the day's new signings Frédéric Advice-Desrulsseaux and Youssou Diop.  Micky Mellon continued in the centre of the midfield as the only triallist in the squad; in the centre of the defence Chris McHale continued in the absence of the injured Abdou Sall.

Harriers were first to get on top, Jesper Christiansen received the ball just inside the penalty area and curled a shot towards the top corner but highly-rated City keeper Danny McDonnell somehow got a hand to it and pushed it away for a corner.  City's best chances came from set-pieces, a free kick on the right taken by Jai Stanley found the head of Carl Heeley at the far post but he headed straight at John Danby.  A jinking run by Simon Russell, leaving defenders trailing in his wake, created an opening for Christiansen but he completely miskicked and wasted the chance.  The big Dane almost broke the deadlock again shortly afterwards racing on to a long through ball and lifting his shot over the advancing McDonnell but unfortunately it went just over the bar.

City almost opened the scoring minutes into the second half when a low cross from Shabir Khan was sliced over the crossbar by McHale for a corner.  The first goal was not long in coming, however, Christian Moore hit a long range shot that beat Danby but came back off the post, Nick Colley was quickest to react and fired in the rebound.  The Harriers equaliser came as a result of a rare mistake by McDonnell; Simon Brown hit a shot from the edge of the penalty area that he could only knock down and Christiansen was first on the scene to force it over the line.

Harriers began to get on top and were able to find a lot of gaps in the City defence; a neat passing move ended with Christiansen threading the ball into the path of Brown who tucked a shot into the bottom corner of the net to give Harriers the lead.  Within two minutes the game was as good as wrapped up when Scott Rickards beat the offside trap and got away on the left wing, his cross to the far post found an unmarked Richie Appleby who scored with a diving header.

Danby pulled off a good save to claw away a Leon Kelly shot that was heading towards the top corner late on but Worcester did manage to reduce the arrears two minutes from time thanks to a defensive mix-up that saw defenders and keeper leave the ball for each other and allow Adam Webster to nip in and fire into the unguarded net.

Harriers' team is beginning to take shape and they have won two games in a row without being on top of their game yet.  The addition of someone who could score goals regularly and maybe another experienced head for the defence could lead to Harriers having an enjoyable season rather than a campaign of struggle.