Saturday, January 29, 2000

MANAGER Jan Molby was delighted with table-topping Kidderminster Harriers' performance at Kingstonian on Saturday when a second-half goal from Ian Foster earned them a precious 1-0 victory.

''It was a great result,'' he said after his side stretched their unbeaten Nation-wide Conference run to 11 matches.

It also enabled them to maintain their four points lead at the head of the table.

Molby said: ''It was a difficult game and the conditions didn't help, but we created enough chances to have won two or three matches.

"Kingstonian have got some good players but in the end I think the way we played was excellent. If we hadn't won it would have been an injustice.

''We congratulated the players after the match but we told them that this is the kind of performance that we expect from them to the end of the season.''

Although the gusty wind made conditions awkward, Kidderminster quickly settled against a Kingstonian side they beat 2-0 at Aggborough on December 4.

Mike Marsh, back after serving a one-match suspension, was a shining light in midfield along with Dean Bennett, while defender Adie Smith and Craig Hinton also made life difficult for Kingstonian who have slipped to eighth place after topping the table in November.

''Mike Marsh was excellent. He was the calm influence that we needed all over the pitch and the balls he was feeding through to people like Bennett, Thomas Skovbjerg and Foster were superb," said Molby whose side have not tasted Conference defeat since November 6 when they went down 3-2 at Telford.

Kidderminster, who lost the services of skipper Paul Webb when he limped off in the 17th minute, created a number of chances during the first half with most of them falling to leading scorer Foster.

His best opportunity came in the 15th minute when he scuffed a ball wide following a cross from Scott Stamps.

He was also off target with other efforts in the 19th and 41st minutes. Sandwiched in between was a header from Smith which was well saved by Kingstonian 'keeper Steve Farrelly.

Eddie Akuamoah had a first half 'goal' disallowed for Kingstonian who finally cracked when Foster netted his 12th goal of the campaign. Ian Clarkson set up the move by knocking the ball through to Stewart Hadley who unselfishly crossed to Foster who was on hand to hit home his seventh goal in his last five outings.

In the 57th minute Harriers were indebted to Tim Clarke who pushed over a chipped shot from Geoff Pitcher, but Molby's side finished strongly with substitute Andy Brownrigg and Foster having shots stopped by Farrelly.