Kidderminster Harriers 2(1) v (1)1 Rochdale

Ian Foster's penalty helped to end Harriers' eight-game losing streak and give manager Stuart Watkiss his first win in charge of the team; in-form Rochdale saw their six-game winning run ended by a spirited and committed performance by the home team.

Watkiss gave a debut to new signing Simon Weaver who came in at the expense of Abdou Sall; Chris Beardsley, the other new signing, had to be content with a place on the bench.  Returning to the side was Ian Foster who took the place of the departed Darryn Stamp.  As at Yeovil in midweek Harriers performed with more conviction and passion and looked like a team with a purpose; the influence of Watkiss is showing through already.

Harriers started brightly and almost took the lead in the fourth minute when Simon Russell and Foster combined on the right, the latter's cross found its way to Pedro Matias who headed straight at keeper Matthew Gilkes.  Dean Keates fired Harriers into the lead seconds later, breaching a Rochdale defence that had not conceded a goal for 434 minutes, lashing an unstoppable shot past Gilkes from the edge of the penalty area after good approach play by Matias and Russell.

At the other end Dale almost drew level fairly soon afterwards when the Harriers defence went to sleep at a throw in and allowed Grant Holt into the penalty area; he was thwarted by the alert Ryan Clarke who was making his last appearance of his loan spell, pushing the ball away for a corner.  After the lively start to the game it entered a quiet spell with Harriers able to cope with most that Dale could throw at them.  Ten minutes before the break, however, the visitors drew level and again it was a goal that Harriers could, and should, have prevented.  The ball was played in from the left and only partially blocked by Sall - on for the injured Weaver - the loose ball went to Scott Warner who saw his shot deflected to the unmarked Holt who curled his shot over Clarke and into the far corner of the net.  In stoppage time the could have been goals at both ends; Keates got to the byline on the left, his cross to the far post was knocked back into the path of Russell who had his shot blocked by Greg Heald; Rochdale quickly moved the play to the other end, Holt was allowed to run at the Harriers defence but he ended it with a poor shot that went both high and wide.

After the break Harriers were quickly on the attack again; Chris McHale, impressing again in the right back role, played the ball forward to Foster who beat Tony Gallimore on the touch line and bore down on goal, his low cross-shot across the face of goal was only just out of reach of the onrushing Matias.  Soon after a Keates free kick on the left wing found the head of Sall but a great block by Heald took the sting out of his effort and allowed Gilkes to save.  Harriers regained the lead midway through the half; a Matias pass found Keates on the left, his attempt to play the ball back into the penalty area wa thwarted by the hand of Wayne Evans and referee Paul Danson had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.  After the protests of the Rochdale players had been waved away by the referee foster stepped forward to send Gilkes the wrong way with the penalty, his fifth goal of the season.

Rochdale, despite being one of the form teams in the division, didn't pose much threat to the Harriers lead and didn't manage a shot on target in the second half.  Nonetheless, the closing stages of the game were nervous for Harriers and their fans.  Five minutes from time they could have settled the result when Beardsley, on for Foster, flicked on a long ball into the path of Bennett who ran through the heart of the Dale defence and shot wide of the far post just ahead of Beardsley who had continued his run into the box.  In the few minutes that Beardsley was on the field he caused numerous problems for the Dale defence generally making a nuisance of himself and getting enthusiastically stuck in.  To top the afternoon off, results elsewhere were favourable to Harriers who close the gap to Shrewsbury and Cambridge above them.