HARRIERS’ winning run came to a screeching halt with a comprehensive 4-0 defeat at King’s Lynn that saw Phil Brown’s side finish with ten men.

A brace of goals in each half for a rampant Linnets side coupled with the dismissal of Kam Kandola for two yellow cards made it a miserable night for the side from Worcestershire. 

Phil Brown had been counting the cost of a nagging injury list prior to the game. Having picked up knocks in the win over Halesowen, Reece Devine and Tope Obadeyi were nowhere to be seen at The Walks, while Zak Brown was serving a one-match suspension. 

With Ben Beresford, Alex Penny and Luke Summerfield all also ruled out, Brown handed a start to Seb Thompson against The Linnets, while Maliq Cadogan was restored to the line-up having returned from international duty. 

Ashley Hemmings struck over with one of a handful of Harriers chances on the night, after Harriers had already survived a fifth minute penalty appeal after a game of pinball inside their own area. 

The first goal for the hosts came courtesy of striker Jonny Margetts who forced the issue after successive corners, heading an effort that squirmed under Christian Dibble and into the net with 23 minutes gone.

A superb double save eight minutes later kept Harriers at bay; Cadogan’s distance drive initially parried by Patrick Boyes, into the path of Amari Morgan-Smith who reacted quickest to snatch at the rebound. Quicker thinking still from Boyes saw him pull out an instinctive second save to keep his team in front.

Before the break it was 2-0, a defensive lapse seeing a drilled, low cross skip straight through the legs of a defender at the near post and into the path of Josh McCammon who gleefully accepted the gift and slotted home.

The small band of travelling fans who’d made the trip looking to see if their side could potentially top the table with a win were well and truly put out of their misery with a double salvo early in the second half. 

On 54 minutes, King’s Lynn broke forward in numbers and caught Harriers cold, Finlay Barnes slid with a neat pass and showing good composure to find the bottom corner to make it 3-0. Four minutes later, A rash foul from Kandola saw his second yellow earn him his marching orders. 
 
After such an impressive run of League and Trophy outings for Harriers, it was an out-of-sorts performance which was consigned to end in defeat with a little over 25 minutes left; Margetts firing beyond Dibble from inside the area to make it four and remove all doubt about the destiny of the three points. 

Harriers, still with a game in hand and within touching distance of the summit, have the chance to respond when Leamington visit Aggborough on Saturday, 3pm.