JOHN Melligan breathed new life into Kidderminster Harriers' promotion hopes with a second half winner in last night's 1-0 victory over Southend United at Aggborough.

The talented Dubliner struck in the 76th minute to enable Harriers to roar back from successive defeats against Boston and Scunthorpe.

It lifted them from 12th to eighth place in the Nationwide League Division Three table just one point away from an automatic top three promotion spot.

Only an inferior goal difference to Lincoln, Oxford and Scunthorpe, who have the same number of points, denies them a slot in the play-off zone.

Happy Harriers boss Ian Britton said: "All three points are gratefully received, so I'm pleased with that. The main thing was getting a result no matter how bad the game is. It wasn't a great spectacle, but to be fair I think we shaded it anyway and were better than them."

Britton said he sensed his players had been affected by the damaging setbacks in their previous two outings and looked nervous.

He said: "After two defeats you could see the players were apprehensive and there was nervousness in their play. I said to them why be nervous, we aren't going to go down because we have got the points now. We are over the 50 mark now, so we might as well go for it. There's nothing to be frightened of."

After a poor first half the entertainment level steadily increased during the second period although a 0-0 draw looked a likely result until Melligan pounced.

Watched by Kidderminster's lowest league crowd of the season - 2,006 - his moment of magic came when he cleverly finished off a flicked pass from striker Drewe Broughton.

After on-loan Melligan had made the breakthrough Kidderminster had to work hard to keep their noses on front.

On a couple of occasions they were heavily indebted to vital saves by keeper Fraser Digby and with just four minutes left Sean Parrish produced a crucial goalline clearance.

Relieved Britton said: "I know Digby made a couple of good saves but besides that I couldn't see Southend scoring to be honest. I thought we shut them out quite well."

Kidderminster: Digby 7, Morgan 7, Williams 7, Hinton 7, Smith 6 (Coleman 83), Broughton 7, Shilton 6 (Bishop 83), Henriksen 6 (Parrish 83), Flynn 7, Melligan 8, Scott 6. Subs (not used): Brock, Foster. Attendance: 2,006.