Kidderminster Harriers 3(1) v (1)2 Scunthorpe United

A brace from top-scorer Ian Foster and a first goal for the club for on-loan Kelvin Langmead deep into stoppage time earned Harriers a much-needed victory that lifts them off the foot of League Two.

Jan Molby had barely enough players available to field a team as a result of injuries, Foster himself should not have been playing after being advised by a specialist to rest an injured knee for a week; Steve Burton misssed a game for the first time this season forcing Shaun cooper to move across into the left-back position, Frédéric Advice-Desruisseaux returned to the starting line-up for the first time since September 4.

Harriers showed much more determination than they had done in the debacle at Lincoln City in the previous game and could have taken an early lead.  Good work by Jesper Christiansen on the left started a counter-attack, the ball found Langmead whose cross was just behind Foster who was unable to control his header and directed it over the bar.  After their bright start, however, Harriers returned to their more normal defensive ways to gift United the lead after 17 minutes; a corner from the right found its way to Steve Torpey beyond the far post who slotted his shot back across goal and into the bottom corner despite the fact that there were three Harriers defenders stood on the goalline.  The visitors could have doubled their lead soon afterwards when Cleveland Taylor's pass unlocked the Harriers defence and picked out Paul Hayes who took it round Lee Jenkins but saw his shot pushed round the post by John Danby.

At the other end Harriers continued to compete and Dean Keates picked out Simon Brown with a long pass, Brown beat his man and fired a shot towards the near post that Paul Musselwhite got right behind to save.  The equaliser came on 26 minutes, Langmead received the ball on the right and held it up well while advancing across the front of the penalty area before rolling it into the path of Foster whose shot took a deflection that kept it out of the reach of Musselwhite.  Langmead had a chance to put Harriers ahead before the break when put clear by Brown but he dragged his shot wide of the far post.

Scunthorpe restored their lead after 57 minutes as a result of more sloppy Harriers defending.  The ball was played in from the left into a crowded penalty area, Harriers managed to get bodies in the way of the ball as it pinged around in front of goal until Abdou Sall missed a clearance and it ran to the unmarked Hayes who was left with an easy shot under Danby.  Harriers were undaunted by this setback and kept plugging away in search of a way back into the game; Cooper played the ball forward to Christiansen who carried it on toward the United penalty area before picking out Brown on the right wing, his cross was just a fraction too far in front of Langmead at the far post for him to make contact.  The home team equalised for the second time after 68 minutes; Brown had the ball on the right wing and knocked it inside to Steve McMahon, who had come on for the ineffective Advice-Desruisseaux, and his low cross to the near post was swept under Musselwhite by Foster.

As the game wore on both teams searched for a winner; Simon Russell picked out Foster with a searching crossfield pass and his cross from the left was destined for Langmead's head until the timely intervention of Iron captain Andy Crosby.  Then, Christiansen's clever backheel put Cooper free on the left and his cross to the near post was met by the diving Langmead only for Musselwhite to get down to his right excellently to push it away for a corner.  At the other end a 25-yard drive from Richard Kell was tipped over the bar by Danby.

With the game seemingly heading for a draw nearly three minutes into stoppage time Harriers made one last foray forwards; Cooper's pass unlocked the United defence and Langmead, summoning one final effort from weary legs, chased it down holding off his marker as he was driven wide to the right but he managed to hook his foot around the ball to direct it across the face of goal and into the far corner to spark mass scenes of delirium amongst the home supporters.  As the final whistle blew the visitors stood in disbelief that they had thrown away the chance to take over at the top of the league.