September 2, 2000

KIDDERMINSTER Harriers boss Jan Molby admitted to being bitterly disappointed with his side's performance in Saturday's 1-0 Nationwide Division Three defeat by Carlisle United at Aggborough.

"We never put them under any sort of pressure and some of our play at times was hard to believe," he said after watching Carlisle clinch victory with a second half Ian Stevens goal.

He added: "They came here and put 11 men behind the ball, but that's what we will face on occasions this season.

"They set their stall out from the start and it got them three points.

"The whole 90 minutes was very lacklustre with the game never getting out of second gear, but at least we have nine points from our first five games and we'll keep working and improving.

"It's going to be a long hard season, but I've a feeling we'll be alright at the end of the day."

Victory would have taken Harriers top. Instead they are sixth and had to say farwell to their impressive record at Aggborough -- the end of a 19 match run without defeat at home.

Carlisle manager Ian Atkins said: "Kidderminster are a very good side. They move the ball very well and you have to close the gaps and seize a bit of ground and obviously try to hit them on the break. We did that very successfully.

"At times we could have kept the ball a lot better than we did to give ourselves an even better chance. Kidderminster were playing all the nice football, but we defended very, very well.

"It was a terrific all-round performance by us in terms of the players we had and they all struck together like glue. It was a very good win for us against a very good side."

Kidderminster were without injured Scott Stamps, Ian Foster and Tim Clarke and paid the price as they tasted defeat for defeat in a Nationwide Conference match for the first time since losing 2-1 to Nuneaton Borough last September.

Stevens made sure the sequence came to an end when he struck in the 63rd minute with a well taken close range volley following a fine cross from Scott Dobie.

It was particularly disappointing for Harriers fans in the 4,052 crowd -- a big improvement on their previous home match against Halifax Town which attracted a gate of 2,956.

With defences generally ruling the roost, on-target shots were few and far between from both sides.

Carlisle's Steve Soley did his best to make an early breakthrough when he tried his luck with a 30-yard effort which was safely tipped over the bar by keeper Stuart Brock.

After that it was record signing Andy Ducros who looked as likely as anyone to pierce the well organised Carlisle rear-guard.

After a tame shot which went wide, he was nearer the mark in the 27th minute when his 25-yard shot dipped just over the bar.

Dobie went close for Carlisle with a header before another Ducros shot, this time from 22 yards, flashed narrowly wide a minute before half-time.

After the break Harriers resumed their quest to try to find a way through the rock solid visitors defence, but again failed to find someone with a flash of individual flair to unpick the lock.

Following a miscued shot from Ian Bogie, Carlisle's Carl Heggs had a couple of deflected shots safely dealt with by Brock.

Then, just a minute before Stevens grabbed what proved to be the winner, Harriers went within a whisker of going ahead themselves.

After leading scorer Stewart Hadley had seen his close range shot half-stopped by keeper Luke Weaver, Dean Bennett followed up from the rebound only to see his effort cleared off the line by Mark Winstanley.

Unruffled Carlisle then promptly went up field to notch their all-important goal.

Kidderminster battled in vain to equalise, but were unlucky in the 83rd minute when a header from substitute Paul Webb hit the post.