Tuesday, March 30, 2004

KIDDERMINSTER Harriers wasted the chance of meeting Worcester City in the final of the Worcestershire Senior Cup when they crashed to an embarrassing 2-1 defeat against Sutton Coldfield Town at Aggborough last night.

Harriers, fielding nine players with first team experience, were humbled when the Dr Martens League Western Division outfit clinched a shock victory with a goal in extra time.

Sutton fell behind to an Adam Murray strike on 12 minutes but hit back with a cracking equaliser from former Kidderminster player Mark Wolsey after half an hour.

With Harriers being woefully short of a cutting edge up front, the visitors delighted their supporters by grabbing a 114th minute winner through Naveed Arshad.

For Sutton it was a rich reward for their untiring efforts which were disturbed when they lost goalkeeper Justin Bray with an ankle injury after 60 minutes.

With no other keeper on the bench Bray was forced to hand over his jersey to Wolsey who was never put under any serious pressure by Harriers for the rest of the game.

For Kidderminster it was a bitterly disappointing outcome, particularly as they could have expected healthy attendances for a two-leg final against Worcester.

A trip to St George's Lane for the first leg looked a formality when they took the lead following a mistake by Bray which enabled Scott Rickards to cross for Murray to score from 16 yards.

Striker Jesper Christiansen had a overhead kick drop just wide and then had an effort stopped on the line by Exodus Geohaghan before Wolsey equalised with a spectacular half volley following a cross from Richie Gardner.

After that Harriers frustrated their supporters by making little impact against a hard working Sutton defence which never let them get in any testing shots.

Indeed, Wolsey had been in goal for 20 minutes before he was called on to deal with an on-target effort.

In the 82nd minute Graham Ward kept Sutton at bay by clearing a Kevin Jones header off the line as the match headed for extra time.

The first period was goalless before Harriers finally cracked when Arshad got the final touch after Jones had flicked the ball past keeper Stuart Brock.

Kidderminster: Brock 4, Fitter 5, Coleman 4 (Willmore, 103, 4), Ward 5, Sall 4, McHale 4, *Rickards 6 (Bonar, 103, 4), Jenkins 4, Christiansen 4, Murray 5, Parrish 5. Subs (not used): Stacey, Attewell, Harri.

Referee: J. Cox (Evesham).

Attendance: 347.