Kidderminster Harriers swept aside South Shields 4-0 at Aggborough to move up to second in National League North.

Easily the most impressive and fluid showing of the campaign so far for Phil Brown’s men earned them the emphatic and richly deserved victory.

Goals from Amari Morgan-Smith, Tope Obadeyi, Joe Foulkes and Ashley Hemmings were enough to seal things as a rampant Reds side notched their win without the concession of a single serious South Shields chance of note all night.

Brown had been forced into making one change to his starting line-up; with Maz Kouhyar on International duty with Kazakhstan, Obadeyi was drafted into the side to replace him, while there was a spot on the bench for recalled striker Kobe Hall with Maliq Cadogan also away from domestic matters courtesy of his call-up to the Gyana national team.

In truth it was one-way traffic from the off for the men from Aggborough, who netted their first on the half-hour mark when an opportunistic Morgan-Smith pounced on a weak back-header to the goalkeeper to steal the ball and poke it into the net to continue his impressive run of goals.

Seven minutes later it was two; strong work by Foulkes seeing him chase after the ball and slip it to Hemmings, whose deft, chipped cross found the net with the faintest of touches off the head of Obadeyi who notched his second goal of the season.

There was barely enough time for the celebrations to die down before the third flew in, a relentless attack seeing Obadeyi charge forward and sweep the ball to Hemmings whose shot was beaten away well by goalkeeper Myles Boney. The visitors couldn’t clear their lines and after having one effort blocked, Foulkes followed up again with an accurate, angled drive that found the bottom corner.

3-0 up at half time, Harriers were never looking like surrendering their advantage, Foulkes almost adding to it on 56 minutes as his effort from 12 yards was deflected behind.

Come the hour mark and the fourth arrived, a sublime touch and pass from Morgan-Smith to set away his trusty long-time strike partner Hemmings who showed great composure to chase down Boney and finish well.

Eight minutes later it might have been five as the attacks kept coning, sub Seb Thompson firing a shot that was saved well before Obadeyi hit wide.

Also close to getting in on the act was the impressive Devine who, late on, crashed one effort across the goal and wide before clattering another off the underside of the bar as Shields struggled to contain the home attack.

The Harriers fans went home richly entertained ahead of what promises to be a packed house at Aggborough on Saturday for the return of Russ Penn and the visit of Halesowen Town in the FA Trophy (3pm).