A goal in each half from Iyseden Christie and a first senior goal for Marc Pugh helped Harriers to a comfortable and deserved win over Dagenham that ended a six-game run without victory in the Conference.

It was a god all-round performance from a Harriers team that was without a number of key players; with Mark Jackson and Daryl Burgess both suspended Gavin Hurren came in for his first start in the centre od defence alongside Johnny Mullins whose place at right back was taken by Patrick Flynn making his debut.  Michael Blackwood and Taiwo Atieno both dropped down to the bench making way for Lee Thompson and Terry Fleming in a formation that offered a lot of protection to the inexperienced defence.

The opening stages were scrappy and Harriers were given an early scare when Paul Bruce's corner from the right picked out an unmarked Lee Goodwin who headed over the near post.  Harriers's first good chance came from a set-piece also; awarded a free-kick 20 yards out in a central position Fleming rolled the ball to Wayne Hatswell, stand-in captain for the day, who saw his shot blocked.

Harriers had not heeded the earlier warning and Goodwin went close again outjumping Hurren to get his head to Danny Foster's right wing cross.  Both teams were creating chances, however, and Thompson got up well to met Fleming's corner form the left but his header was saved low to the right by Tony Roberts.  A wonderful piece of trickery by Pugh led to Harriers' opening goal four minutes before the break, the youngster flicked the ball over the head of Daggers full back Scott Griffiths before crossing low into the goalmouth where Christie forced home his ninth goal of the season.

As the half drew to a close the visitors had a great chance to level the scores; a long ball over the middle flicked off the head of Hurren into the path of Chris Moore who raced clear and should really have done better but Danny Lewis stood up well and managed to save the shot with his outstretched leg.  In stoppage time Harriers doubled their lead when Pugh rose at the far post to direct a looping header from Hatswell's cross over Roberts.

Harriers should have extended their lead early in the second half, Thompson's pass through the inside right channel split the Dagenham defence wide open for Christie who was only just beaten to the ball by Roberts who was so hurried sliced his clearance out for a corner.  The third goal came after 65 minutes; a perfectly placed flying header by Christie who did well to shake off his marker to meet Hatswell's deep cross from the left.

The home team were comfortably in control of the game, Hurren got forward and went close to scoring with a 25-yard drive that was well saved by Roberts after the defender had shown surprisingly good skills to create the opening for himself.  Russ Penn set Pugh away on the right with another defence-splitting pass; Pugh, however, decide to try and pick out the unmarked Christie at the far post rather than go for goal himself but his pass was just a little to far ahead of Christie and went harmlessly out of play.

Hurren went close again, picked out by Fleming's corner from the right he was allowed an unchallenged header but couldn't direct it on target.  In the closing minutes the visitors pulled a goal back that was little more than a consolation when Glen Southam picked the ball up on the left, cut inside and curled a great shot into the far corner that gave Lewis no chance of saving.