Tuesday, January 13, 2004

KIDDERMINSTER Harriers' hopes of pulling off an FA Cup giant-killing act were dashed when they were destroyed by two goals from Wolves' Kenny Miller in last night's replay at Molineux.

He opened the scoring after 36 minutes and then settled the issue with a controversial goal on 65 minutes to earn the Premiership strugglers a home fourth round tie with West Ham United.

Although the match never reached any great heights Harriers were able to leave Molineux with their heads held high after making Wolves battle every inch of the way for their win.

The excitement level was never as intense as when the sides drew 1-1 at Aggborough when Dave Jones' men got themselves out of jail by notching an 89th minute equaliser.

Miller helped make sure there were no similar scares last night by putting his side ahead following a free kick by Mark Kennedy. He lifted the ball deep into the area and Vio Ganea knocked it back for Miller to head past 'keeper Stuart Brock from close range.

Danny Williams and Graham Ward both went close during the first half which ended with Bo Henriksen narrowly missing the target with a shot which spun just wide of the target.

After the break Harriers began to look more menacing and Williams' shot from long range sailed wide before Wolves killed the match off.

After collecting a throw in from Oleg Luzhny, Miller fired in a cross-cum-shot which crashed against the inside of the far post and bounced down before being booted away by Craig Hinton.

One of the referee's assistants decided that the ball had crossed the line and when the goal was awarded Harriers' chances were dead and buried.

Jan Molby's men tried hard to get back into the match but were unable to find a way through Wolves rear-guard.

In one Harriers raid tempers flared and three players, including Henriksen, were booked after a goalmouth dust-up.

Disappointed Molby praised his players' gallant efforts, saying: "I expected a really tough game and in certain aspects we had that, but in other aspects we more than matched them.

"The difference was in the final third both ends. They were slightly better than what we were, but nevertheless we have come away with our heads held high.

"The second half was certainly better than the first. The problem we had in the first half was that we made too many mistakes. The second half was a lot better.

"At the time they scored to make it 2-0 we were on top without really creating an awful lot of problems."

Relieved Jones said: "A cup upset was never going to happen as long as we did the right things. It was a game we could have done without but we didn't do our jobs in the last game so we had to come and do it here."