Forest Green 0 Harriers 0

Mat Kendrick reports from The Lawn

HARRIERS and Lee Thompson depressingly paid the penalty in a match which, like their season, petered out towards an inevitable conclusion.

With determined defences winning the day against out-of-sorts attackers, the Gloucestershire-Worcestershire derby was always destined to be goal-less.

And with Harriers having little or nothing left to play for over their next 10 games that deflated feeling could become a regular feature for fans until the end of the season.

If anything Mark Yates has become a victim of his own early success.

While his solid run of results instantly ruled out a relegation battle, his side's slight stutter has completely ended any ambitious play-off hopes.

Getting points on the board and finishing as high as possible remains the manager's pre and post-match mantra.

But Yates could be excused if his attention - like everybody else's at Aggborough - has already turned towards preparing for next season.

Harriers were not so much going through the motions last Saturday as missing the willingness and where-with-all to chop down Forest Green.

Groundstaff and fans had worked overtime to ensure The Lawn was playable after the cold snap.

But so dire was the first-half most spectators would surely have shut their curtains had the game been played on their own back lawn.

Thompson's pathetic penalty miss on 52 minutes summed up Harriers' chronic lack of cutting edge - and the pocket-sized poacher has already been axed from taking the next one.

Kidderminster could count themselves fortunate to win the decision in the first place with referee Graham Scott one of the select few to witness Michael Taylor's alleged elbow into the face of Andy White.

But as Thommo's soft spot-kick was comfortably pushed away by Ryan Clarke any real hopes of a Harriers win went with it.

The former Aggborough loan keeper also produced a super stop to fingertip Gareth Sheldon's header to safety after a smart move involving Michael Blackwood.

But other than that Clarke was a virtual spectator. Those two chances were the sum of the visitors' meaningful attacks as time after time their positive play broke down in the final third.

A promising first-half break by Sheldon where he chose the wrong option, ran down a blind alley and passed the ball out of play was a typical example of Harriers' toothlessness.

Simon Russell, meanwhile, demonstrated his repertoire of fancy footwork and close control after floating into space, only to waste the final ball or shot.

In fact those two players once again encapsulated in a ginger nutshell what Harriers all too often threaten, but fail to deliver, going forward.

Defensively, Kidderminster were as well-drilled as ever with Daryl Burgess and Gavin Hurren coping reasonably well in the face of Rovers' direct approach.

And keeper John Danby, who dropped a couple of clangers in the 3-1 home defeat, stood up well to the test with confident handling and collecting.

Danby also showed quick reflexes to divert a Zema Abbey drive around the post with the striker thwarting himself on two further occasions with a poor header over and a wasted one-on-one.

Paul Wanless spurned a couple of scorable headed chances in either half, while ex-Harriers scapegoat Abdou Sall almost had the last laugh with a glancing header which rolled just wide before the break.

Guy Madjo came closest to breaking the deadlock when he was the fastest to react in the box to poke a close range shot against the bar on 72 minutes.

But despite those scares Harriers never really looked in danger of going one-up or one-down.

And, probably not for the last time this term, Yates's men gave the impression that they were merely playing out time.