Monday, September 13, 1999

KIDDERMINSTER Harriers' recent up-turn in fortunes suffered a setback when their historic Nationwide Conference clash with Nuneaton Borough ended in a 2-1 defeat at Aggborough last night.

After the pre-match hype surrounding the three female officials had died down, Harriers took the lead in the ninth minute through Andrew Brownrigg, but then allowed Nuneaton to hit back with two second-half goals.

The equaliser came from Stuart Ryder after 73 minutes with Andy Ducros cracking the visitors' winner four minutes from time.

For Kidderminster it was a disappointing result, particularly after they had started to move up the table by winning three of their previous four matches.

Afterwards Harriers' boss Jan Molby said: "I don't think we can have any complaints. We started well, but that was probably the worse thing that could have happened. With our recent results I think the players just thought we were going to win again.

"I thought in the first-half Nuneaton were outstanding.

"They were the best side we have played so far this season by a long way. We just couldn't deal with it. It was disappointing because in the second-half I felt it was a more even game.

"The disappointing part was the goals they scored. We had got so many bodies back in our own penalty area but still failed to deal with the situation."

After Brownrigg had broken the deadlock, following a fine build- up by Mark Druce and Ian Foster, Nuneaton gradually began giving Harriers a tough time.

They fired in a number of shots, but were let off the hook in the 64th minute when midfielder Paul Webb blazed a good chance over the bar.

It was no real surprise, however, when Ryder equalised with a deflected shot and when Ducros struck there was no way back for Harriers.

Kidderminster: Clarke 7, Hinton 6, Stamps 6, Webb 6, Pope 6, Smith 8, Bennett 6 (Hadley, 88), Skovbjerg 6 (Barnett, 60, 6), Druce 6, Foster 7, Brownrigg 7. Subs (not used): Collins, Brock, Weir.

Star man: Adie Smith.

Attendance: 3,152.