Harriers staged another late comeback to preserve their unbeaten home record and salvage a point from a game that they looked like losing but should have won had they not been so profligate in front of goal.

After the injury problems that affected team selection at Scarborough last weekend Stuart Watkiss was able to name an almost full strength side with only Michael Blackwood still unavailable.  Iyseden Christie made the team after overcoming an infection in his foot despite some wild rumours that had been circulating that he would never play again and Martin O'Connor's hamstring injury cleared up enough for him to be able to make it through the whole 90 minutes.  New loan signing Simon Heslop began on the bench.

The opening stages of the game were fairly quiet; Harriers had the greater share of possession and were passing the ball around well.  There was a penalty appeal early on when Christie went down in the box but referee Stonebridge was not moved by his fall and awarded just a goal kick.  Steve Dickinson in the visitors' goal pulled off a great save after 18 minutes to deny Gareth Sheldon who had curled a free kick around the wall from 25 yards out, the keeper seeming to change direction in the air to push it over the bar.

Shortly afterwards Christie held the ball up well before rolling it into the path of Laurie Wilson who curled it over the bar from 20 yards out.  At the other end Carl Baker then jinked his way into the penalty area, turning Mark Jackson this way and that before shooting straight at John Danby who did well to beat the shot away.  Just after the half-hour Harriers should have taken the lead; Simon Russell and Terry Fleming exchanged passes on the edge of the penalty area with Russell shooting across the face of goal, Dickinson parried it into the path of Christie who somehow contrived to miss from two yards out.  Fortunately for him the linesman's flag was up - it wouldn't have counted had he found the target.

In the closing minutes of the half the visitors had a better spell; a free kick from the right wing by Carl Baker found the head of an unmarked Steve Pickford who headed wide but should have done better.  Then, in stoppage time, they took the lead; with the Harriers defence pushed up Dominic Krief played the ball through into the path of Steve Daly who appeared well offside.  The flag stayed down and he was left with a clear run on goal before slotting the ball past Danby.

Early in the second half Sheldon went close with another free kick, 25 yards out in a central position, that went just wide of Dickinson's right-hand post.  Shortly afterwards Sheldon was involved again, heading down into the path of Russell who saw his first-time shot go across the face of goal and narrowly wide of the far post.  Harriers were given a golden opportunity to get back on terms after 58 minutes.  Christie tangled with Southport defender Earl Davis, appearing to push him as he tried to get past him but as the defender fell he tripped Christie and this time the penalty was given.  Sheldon took the kick and although he hit it well Dickinson pulled off another good save to push it over the bar.

Southport did seem content to make do with the lead that they had and put a lot of bodies behind the ball whenever they could but they still created the occasional chance of their own; a long throw from the right was flicked on by Wayne Hatswell to Neil Robinson who headed straight at Danby.  Harriers began to get frustrated by the visitors' defensive plan and the good passing of the first half was not to be seen; Christie was caught in possession in midfield and Baker and Chris Lane combined to set Daly free on the right, his angled shot was pushed away by Danby for a corner.

Six minutes from the end Christie almost made up for his earlier slip jinking into the penalty area almost to the byline only to see his shot cleared off the line by Davis for a corner.  From the resulting flag-kick Russell's cross to the far post found the head of Hatswell who buried it to get Harriers out of jail.  Harriers almost mustered another last gasp winner in stoppage time when Hatswell got forward again but this time his header was cleared off the line by Jerome Fitzgerald.