BURTON 1 HARRIERS 0

FROM the sublime to the ridiculous...

Just days after their season's best at Boston, Harriers returned to their frustrating old selves at Burton, writes Mat Kendrick.

The inventiveness that characterised their LDV victory over higher-graded opponents was replaced with the lethargy that has summed up most of their Conference campaign.

Once again the match referee hardly helped matters with a card-happy display which brought seven bookings and the second-half sending off of Daryl Burgess, but this time Harriers only had themselves to blame.

Indeed, boss Stuart Watkiss was rendered speechless by his side's lacklustre display, so much so that he declined the opportunity to speak to the press at the final whistle.

As the players emerged one-by-one from the Pirelli Stadium dressing room, Watkiss remained locked in talks with assistant Martin O'Connor and physio Jim Conway until 6pm.

At that point chairman Barry Norgrove was forced to march in to hurry his manager onto the waiting team bus, the whole episode suggesting that trouble was brewing as Harriers Conference decline continues.

Nigel Clough's Brewers meanwhile appear to be heading in the opposite direction with their record of four league victories in a row, contrasting sharply with Harriers' run of six without a win.

Burton were good value for three points, maintaining a high tempo throughout the game, and the uninitiated observer might have struggled to guess which of the two teams was run on a part-time basis.

Keith Gilroy epitomised all that was good about Albion with a high-octane display which saw him running at the Harriers backline all afternoon.

Gilroy's positive wing play resulted in no fewer than five decent chances for himself alone which came to nothing after poor finishing, good goalkeeping and brave blocking by Johnny Mullins.

Jon Shaw also spurned a decent headed chance from a Gilroy cross early in the game, but the only piece of clinical finishing was Lee Bell's 49th minute strike that won the game.

The on-loan Crewe midfielder guided a low volley past Dan Lewis after strong forward play by Shaw for his first goal in Albion colours.

Burton carved Kidderminster open at will in the second half, particularly after Burgess received his second yellow card for tripping Gilroy on 70 minutes - his first, like many of the other bookings was harsh in the extreme.

Utility man Jake Sedgemore, a close season target for Harriers , could and should have scored a second for the hosts when he was played through by Bell in the dying seconds, but his shot was straight at Lewis.

The Kidderminster keeper had survived two scares earlier in the game when he jinked his way past Jon Shaw form a bad back pass and when he escpaed unpunished after barging Sean Harrad out of the way from another dangerous raid.

Despite being second-best for most of the afternoon, Harriers did create several chances of their own.

Simon Heslop continued his habit of missing virtual open goals in away games, altough his scooped off target effort from Iyseden Christie's pass on the stroke of half time was not as bad as his sitters at Aldershot and Stevenage.

Heslop almost made up for his wastefulness with a sweet snapshot in the second half but despite a crowded penalty box obscuring his vision, Albion keeper Saul Deeney dived to push the ball onto his right hand post.

Much of the pre match hype surrounded Kidderminster's sense of release that top scorer Christie had escaped the clutches of several suitors to remain a Harrier, for the next month at least.

But the clinical touch the big man displayed at Boston seemed to have desserted him on Saturday as he spurned two scorable opportunities a minute either side of Burton's goal.

First he got on the end of Harriers' move of the match involving Johnny Mullins, Taiwo Atieno and a measured Michael Blackwood cross to nod a free header wide of the bost.

Then he wasted a decent chance to equalise when he burst onto a long ball but failed to beat the advancing Deeney with Atieno's follow-up deflecting off a defender.