Saturday, November 6, 1999

A CONTROVERSIAL last min-ute penalty dashed Kidderminster Harriers' hopes of stepping up their Nationwide Conference title challenge when they slipped to a 3-2 defeat in Saturday's action-packed clash at Telford United.

Harriers were put on the spot after they had clawed their way back from being 2-0 down.

It nudged manager Jan Molby's men down into sixth place in the table, nine points adrift of new leaders Kingstonian but with two matches in hand.

Telford's killer penalty was awarded when Paul Webb was adjudged to have upended substitute Chris Malkin and Charlie Hartfield stepped up to hammer the spot kick past keeper Tim Clarke, who had made a number of vital saves during an exciting encounter.

After the match watched by Telford's biggest gate of the season - 1,409 - Webb disputed the penalty decision which led to Kidderminster tumbling to another disappointing defeat against a side from the lower reaches of the table.

Telford were 2-0 ahead by the 33rd minute before Dean Bennett pulled one back a minute later.

Substitute Stewart Hadley equalised in the 76th minute but it proved to be in vain with Telford gleefully accepting the chance to overcome a Kidderminster side they will meet again on Saturday, November 27, in the second round of the FA Umbro Trophy at Aggborough.

Hadley said afterwards: "I thought we might sneak a winner at the end, but unfortunately it went the other way.

"We didn't start well. We haven't been starting as well as we should do all season. We don't seem to get going until the second half.

"It was a good performance to get to 2-2, but we slipped up at the end.

"These sides at the lower end of the table are real battlers. We have to win the battle before we can play them off the pitch. That's what we hoped to do, but again it didn't come about."

Kidderminster, after three successive league victories, got off to the worst possible start when Jake Edwards, making his debut for Telford following a loan move from Wrexham, turned in a cross from Carl McAuley after just two minutes 25 seconds.

Harriers went close to equalising in the eighth minute when Bennett had an effort deflected onto the bar.

Three minutes later Clarke pulled off the first of his impressive saves by smothering a shot from Gez Murphy.

In the 13th minute defender Steve Pope, struggling after pulling a hamstring in the opening 60 seconds, was replaced by newcomer Ian Clarkson.

Clarke then denied Steve Palmer before Telford made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute when Mark Cooper netted from close range.

Bennett grabbed a lifeline for Kidderminster a minute later when his 20 yard shot out of the blue beat keeper Dean Williams.

Shortly before half time Kidderminster has another couple of lucky escapes, but adopted a more positive approach after the break and began giving Telford a far more testing time.

Williams pushed away a shot from Bennett while at the other end Clarke kept Harriers in the hunt with another fine save against Murphy.

Then, after a period of heavy pressure, Kidderminster notched an equaliser in the 76th minute through Hadley who neatly swept in a cross from the busy Thomas Skovbjerg.

For Hadley, who had re-placed Scott Stamps in the 59th minute, it was his first goal of the season.

At that stage it looked as if Kidderminster were capable of going on to snatch victory although they were again indebted to Clarke when he pushed a powerful header from Jim Bentley over the bar.

The Kidderminster keeper, however, was unable to do much about Hartfield's spot kick which severely damaged the Aggborough outfit's bid to close the gap on the leading pack.