STEVENAGE 3 HARRIERS 1

A Harriers old boy might have put his Stamp on Stevenage's success - but it was the young referee who delivered the telling blow to Harriers, writes Mat Kendrick.

Gavin Ward's decision to award a controversial penalty to Boro, seconds after Kidderminster pulled a goal back, all but crushed Stuart Watkiss's men's hopes of a comeback at the Broadhall Way fortress.

It left the Aggborough boss fuming, so much so that he accused the Kent match official of favouring the home side and not being fit to referee in the Conference.

But in truth, Harriers had already shot themselves in the foot by the time that contentious turning/talking point ticked around.

Dodgy defending made a mockery of their solid start and although they were quickest out of the blocks, they still trailed 2-0 at half-time.

Kidderminster, it was, who had the first goal-scoring chances when an almost fit Iyseden Christie headed one effort from 15 yards just over the bar and another from point blank range straight at the keeper, while Simon Heslop missed a sitter rivalling his open goal howler at Aldershot.

Laurie Wilson provided sterling service during the opening exchanges but despite looking more at home on the right than he has in the centre, the young midfielder's early impact soon wore off - as did that of most of his team-mates.

Even so, Harriers were in no real danger before Graham Westley's men seized control during two minutes of madness mid-way through the first half.

The Hertfordshire hosts opened the scoring on 26 minutes when Wayne Hatswell inexplicably handled the ball in an attempt to clear a corner.

The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and, on this occasion at least, his decision was spot on.

Darryn Stamp, who spent a month on loan at Aggborough last season, converted the kick with the minimum of fuss with an effort which beat the dive of Dan Lewis just inside the right hand post.

Stamp would go on to knock in the second, wrongly- awarded, penalty with a carbon copy finish and in doing so score more goals in 90 minutes against Harriers than he had done in five appearances for them, when he notched just once.

Stevenage's second goal came just two minutes after the first and again owed more to the visitors' defensive frailties than to inspired attacking from the hosts, who have now won seven and drawn one of their first seven Conference home matches this term.

With Kidderminster still reeling from the opening goal, Stamp was soon played into a scoring position and after a brave save at his feet from Lewis, Harriers assumed the hard work was done.

That led to them switching off from the subsequent set-piece and Barry Laker was given the freedom of the six-yard box to head Dannie Bulman's corner in at the far post.

After that it was tit for tat for long periods with the Broadhall Way men content to sit back and defend their lead and Kidderminster lacking the cutting edge to carve their way back into the game.

All that changed on 68 minutes, however, when Harriers were gifted a lifeline through Laker's defensive mistake.

Christie was the grateful recipient, intercepting the centre half's weak back header to nod the ball over stranded Stevenage keeper Alan Julian.

Who knows what might have happened had the man in the middle not intervened seconds later? But there was no denying that at that stage, Harriers had regained the initiative.

Enter Mr Ward with a penalty decision that defied belief. Hatswell and most of the 2,207 crowd could see that the left back had played the ball in a challenge with George Boyd.

The referee, however, had other ideas, pointing the spot, but failing to send off Hatswell for a second "bookable" offence and instead yellow-carding Johnny Mullins for his voiciferous protests.

While his former team-mates were losing their heads, Stamp kept his to roll in Boro's third and effectively kill of Kidderminster's recovery.