Saturday, October 27, 2001

ASSISTANT manager Gary Barnett bemoaned a lack of imagination as Kidderminster Harriers enjoyed plenty of possession but still lost 1-0 at Southend United in Division Three.

It was hoped Harriers might build on Tuesday's fine 4-1 victory over York City, especially as they kept faith with an attacking 4-3-3 formation at the weekend.

But the end result was disappointing with the visitors forcing goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan into just one serious save despite enjoying a lot of the play.

They also managed to gift Southend all three points by falling asleep at the back to concede the only goal on two minutes.

Mark Rawle skinned the otherwise promising Abdou Sall on the left and although Tesfaye Bramble missed his pull-back, Carl Hutchings -- a target for Harriers in the summer -- fired home from 12 yards.

A disappointed Barnett said: "There were plenty of crosses going into the box from us but we'd like them to be a bit more imaginative around the edge of the box.

"Sometimes you need something a bit different and have people willing to take the ball and be confident in those areas.

"We are still working on playing three up-front and it's still very new to all the players.

"We are also looking at individuals performing consistently game in, game out.

"There was a tremendous level of performance from the 11 the other night against York. But the level of performance was not here at Southend, hence the defeat."

Despite Harriers' possession forcing 12 corners, Southend did come close on other occasions with the pace of strikers Bramble and Rawle causing problems at times.

Kidderminster fought back after conceding the goal with Drewe Broughton heading too close to Flahavan and Colin Larkin completely missing his kick after being put through on goal by Ian Foster.

But Larkin's sitter on 19 minutes came either side of two great chances for Southend as Rawle missed open goals, hitting the outside of the post from an acute angle with the second effort.

Midfielder Hutchings nearly confirmed the three points, shaving the woodwork with a 25-yarder on 54 minutes.

Harriers used all three substitutes but just could not breach a solid home defence with the experienced Phil Whelan and Damon Searle particularly impressive.

Barnett added: "The goal is down to an individual mistake again which has cost us very early on when instructions have only been given out a few minutes before.

"Abdou Sall will be very disappointed. He needs to work the opponent and be stronger there.

"Their chances after that were down to our lack of communication.

"But there are positives from the game and our attacking play is improving all the time. We certainly created a number of opportunities with good balls into the box."