HARRIERS O YORK 0

THE Conference's infamous officials continued to be Kidderminster's toughest opponents of the season as Harriers once again paid the penalty for dodgy refereeing, writes Mat Kendrick.

While Stuart Watkiss's men have matched high-flying Stevenage and York on successive Saturdays, they have struggled to contend with the lack-lustre lawmakers.

Referee Amy Rayner was the latest target of Watkiss's wrath - but Aggborough could have done with agony aunt Claire Rayner instead after the trauma the Leicestershire woman in the middle caused.

Her failure to award what can only be described as a blatant penalty left most of the 1,768 crowd seething and she had to be escorted off the pitch by stewards as torrents of abuse rained down on her from the terraces.

Iyseden Christie's late burst into the box was easily Harriers' best, and indeed only real clear-cut chance of the afternoon and the burly striker seemed certain to score.

But after poking the ball round the advancing Chris Porter, Christie was unceremoniously bundled to the floor by the York keeper.

Perhaps Rayner was poorly-sited or perhaps Harriers' top scorer's reputation for taking a tumble preceded him.

Either way there was no excuse for denying Kidderminster a cast-iron penalty which would have given them a great opportunity to wrap up a crucial three points.

Coming hot on the heels of referee Gavin Ward's controversial and costly decision to award a spot-kick against Kidderminster in their defeat at Stevenage the previous weekend, Watkiss could be thinking the world is against his team.

A narrow victory would probably have been just reward for Harriers who edged this scrappy but entertaining affair against Billy McEwan's wobbling play-off hopefuls.

Spurred on by a midfield packed with hungry and hard-working young Harriers, only the home side's frustrating failure to threaten in the final third undid their promising approach play.

Russ Penn in particular has surely written himself onto the team-sheet for an extended run in the engine room, combining high energy with simple and effective use of the ball on his full Kidderminster debut.

Burnley youngster Marc Pugh also gave fans an exciting glimpse of his potential during an encouraging first start on the right wing.

Simon Heslop, too, put in a superb performance, covering every single blade of grass as he patrolled up and down the left touchline, helping out defensively and driving Harriers forward.

Unfortunately it was another of those days when Kidderminster were not fully functioning up front.

Before the break Taiwo Atieno dragged one half-chance wide and smashed another straight at Porter with Christie also firing off-target and Heslop and Pugh hitting sweet enough strikes into the keeper's hands.

After the break, Harriers were competitive and compact without overly troubling the visitors and before the penalty appeal, Heslop's close curling effort from Christie's cross-field pass was their best effort.

At the other end, ex-Harriers frontman Andy Bishop twice stuck the ball in the net only to see both efforts ruled out.

The first was chalked off when he was adjudged to have come from an offside position to tuck in the rebound after Leo Bertos' shot was blocked, while his second was harshly disallowed for a supposed foul on Dan Lewis.

The Kidderminster keeper then went on to foil Levant Yalcin and Lee Andrews with brilliant reflex saves, while York also went close when diminutive Darren Dunning headed a good chance wide and Joe O'Neil sent a dipping volley inches over.