Saturday, December 6, 2003

MODEST hero Dean Bennett played down his crucial two-goal role in Kidderminster Harriers' 3-0 FA Cup second round win at Woking on Saturday.

His man-of-the-match performance was rewarded with goals in the sixth and 64th minutes with Steve Burton also getting on the scoresheet to complete a comprehensive victory.

Bennett, however, was more concerned about Harriers overall display than his well-taken brace which followed the two goals he bagged in a 2-1 home win over Northwich Victoria in the previous round.

The former Bromsgrove Rovers campaigner said: "We played well but we had a job to do. We just had to concentrate on trying to win. We didn't get carried away by it being the FA Cup, it was just another match we had to win.

"It was nice to get the early goal and we stayed on top in the first half and did well. They didn't have any chances and everyone played well."

Harriers director of football Jan Molby praised Bennett by saying: "He deserved his goals. He put in an awful lot of work. His quality is not always what we want, but in terms of being a dangerous midfield player and scoring we can't have any complaints."

Molby was also content with his side's overall efforts against their Nationwide Conference opponents who disappointed their supporters by failing to give Third Division relegation fighters Harriers a more difficult test.

The former Liverpool ace said: "I can't really remember our goalkeeper being troubled by anything. They had one header late on in the second half which flew over the bar, but apart from that we were defensively sound.

"We played the conditions well. It was a heavy pitch obviously with all the rain and there was a little bit of a wind, so we decided just to get the ball into their half and play in there. I think it worked well. On the counter attack we had Bennett and John Williams and we caused them a lot of problems.

Hard-up Harriers collected £15,000 for the win which puts them into the third round for the second time in the club's 117-year history.

The only other occasion they have progressed so far was during their memorable 1993-94 season was when they reached the fifth round after knocking out Woking, Birmingham City and Preston North End.

Molby said that the money generated so far from the cup run would give Harriers 'some scope' to bring in new players.

"Obviously, every penny we can make from now on in would be fantastic. I just think that gradually we are getting better at a lot of the basic things. But we are nowhere near where we need to be to make sure that come March or April we are not going to be out of relegation trouble."

After the kick-off was delayed for 15 minutes due to congestion at the turnstiles, Bennett rapidly made up for lost time when he scored from a narrow angle after a great through ball by Matt Gadsby.

His second goal was another well taken effort when he reacted swiftly to knock the ball in after his initial shot had been saved by keeper Scott Bevan.

On-loan Burton completed the scoring when he had ample time and space to knock in his first goal in senior football.