Saturday, August 19, 2000

JAN Molby slammed his side's defending after Kidderminster Harriers slumped to a 2-0 defeat by 10-man Scunthorpe United on Saturday.

Harriers played with an extra man for most of the match after Scunthorpe skipper Nigel Pepper saw red for punching Paul Webb on 15 minutes.

However, they were unable to break down Brian Laws' resolute side and went down to a Steve Torpey header on 17 minutes and a Wayne Graves strike with 15 minutes to go.

"It was shocking defending for the first goal," Molby said.

"Defending from corners and set pieces are part of the game and we didn't do enough.

"We probably had 75-80 per cent of possession but had to wait until 10 minutes from time before we put a decent cross into the box.

"We knew it was going to be tough though. A lot of people got carried away after the 2-0 win over Torquay last week but I didn't.

I know how hard it is going to be this season and today we were taught a lesson -- I'm sure there will be a few more to come."

Dean Bennett had the best chance for the Football League newboys but failed to connect with an Ian Foster centre midway through the first half.

Tony Bird's late header, which brought a rare save from Tommy Evans, was the only other threatening moment for Kidderminster as they failed to spark up front.

The game's main talking point came on 15 minutes when Pepper suffered a double break of his leg after a tangle with Webb.

Both players went in for the 50-50 ball but it was Pepper who came off far worse. Incredibly Pepper, after taking exception to the challenge, still managed to punch Webb while he was lying prostrate on the ground and was then shown the red card while being stretchered off.

However, rather than taking advantage of the sending off, Kidderminster fell for the sucker punch as, two minutes later, Torpey rose unmarked at the far post to head home a Lee Hodges' free-kick.

Then on 75 minutes, Harriers' inability to cope with the aerial presence of Torpey was exposed again as he nodded down an Andrew Dawson pass to substitute Graves who made no mistake with a neat chip over Tim Clarke.

Two minutes earlier, Torpey hit the post and Graves missed a sitter as Scunthorpe began to dominate the second half.

Kidderminster looked bright in patches but had little cutting edge up front throughout.

One plus for Molby was the performance of Andy Ducros who once again stood out. Ian Bogie made his debut as a second half substitute for Webb who could miss Tuesday's Worthington Cup tie at Walsall with a shin injury.