Saturday, September 14, 2002

BOSS Ian Britton predicted better times ahead after Kidderminster Harriers were only held to a sixth Division Three draw of the season at Scunthorpe United by a terrific equaliser.

Harriers have still only been beaten once in the league and Britton can sense a growing belief among his players who are now in need of a winning run to lift them up the table.

They so nearly took the campaign's first away victory at Glanford Park but there was little anyone could do about Scott Brough's brilliant 25-yard leveller on 70 minutes.

Ahead through Sam Shilton's 45th-minute opener, Harriers looked comfortable in a 3-5-2 formation as new loan signings Mark Clyde and John Melligan slotted in with ease on their debuts.

The visitors shrugged off Wednesday's 4-0 mauling at Nottingham Forest to create the better chances with a confident display of passing football.

Britton declared: "The players are gradually believing they can go to any place in this division with nobody to fear.

"This was back to our bread and butter after the Forest defeat and we know we are as good as anybody in this league.

"It is a measure of far we have come that all the lads are really dejected and annoyed that they haven't taken the three points.

"I am pleased with the point but disappointed we haven't got all three.

"We played well in patches, especially the first half, worked very hard and passed the ball well.

"We had threatened before the goal, hit the post and there were several other chances we haven't done well on.

"With a bit more luck, it could have been 2-0 at half-time. But you cannot do anything about the equaliser which was a great strike."

Harriers coped with the early Scunthorpe threat as keeper Stuart Brock easily dealt with two Alex Calvo-Garcia efforts and a Steve Torpey header.

And they created a great chance on 36 minutes when Bo Henriksen beat the offside trap and passed the ball across for Craig Hinton only for the wing-back to miss a sitter by hitting the outside of the post.

Henriksen skipped free again soon after onto Clyde's long pass but he took his shot early and fired straight at Scunthorpe's Tom Evans from distance.

But Harriers capped their strong finish to the half when Hinton's right-wing cross was slid home under Evans by Shilton from close range.

Only a brilliant Evans stop kept Scunthorpe in the game on 58 minutes, denying Clyde a debut goal after he crashed Shilton's corner towards the top corner.

The home side forced their way back into the reckoning but needed Brough's brilliant strike to deny Harriers.