KIDDERMINSTER Harriers need to show a killer instinct in their play if they are to be successful, says manager Mark Yates.

The Aggborough boss was impressed with his side’s first-half display in the 2-1 Blue Square Premier defeat at Cambridge United on Tues-day.

However, a double from Lee McEvilly was enough to secure the points for the ‘Us’ despite Justin Richards’ 90th-minute strike.

Yates reckons there were plenty of reasons to be positive going into tomorrow’s match at Mansfield Town, but knows there is still a long way to go before Harriers are the finished article.

He said: “I’m pleased with the way we played at times against Cambridge — in the first-half I thought we were excellent.

“They scored a poor goal on our part and we had a great chance to equalise before half-time, though the goalkeeper made a good save.

“The second-half was pretty even before they got the second goal, then they upped it for 10 or 20 minutes and were decent. But the lads stuck at it and had we got our goal back five or 10 minutes earlier than we did, it certainly would have been a bit more interesting.”

He added: “I wouldn’t go as far as to say we weren’t physically at it, but we played into their hands a bit in the sense that we stopped giving the strikers decent balls.

“In the first-half we played some neat stuff but just lacked that little edge.”