Saturday, January 17, 2004

KIDDERMINSTER Harriers are still having to look over their shoulder at the relegation area after tossing away two precious points against next-to-bottom Darlington.

Adam Murray looked to have put Harriers on the victory trail at Aggborough with a seventh minute goal but the spirited Quakers hit back with a dramatic last minute equaliser from David McGurk.

The deadlock leaves boss Jan Molby's men still eight points clear of the Nationwide League Division Threedrop zone with two matches in hand over Darlington who have yet to win an away league game this season.

Molby felt his side were still recovering from their money-spinning FA Cup third round replay at Wolves the previous Tuesday and refused to be downbeat about their failure to pull further away from the relegation area.

"I guess if you had said when I took over towards the end of October we were going to be eight points away from relegation and have a quarter of a million pounds in the bank from the cup games then I think we would have taken that.

"There's still another 20 games to go and we have got enough quality in the squad to see us through," said the former Liverpool star.

Molby, however, described the match as 'poor' against a Darlington side who had lost 1-0 in five of their previous six outings.

He said: "Apart from the first ten minutes when we got our lead we never really got out of the starting blocks. Probably the only excuse we can offer is the fact that I think we were suffering a little bit from the game we had against Wolves.

"We looked tired. We just never looked like we were in a position to cover the ground that was needed.

"The way Darlington played. and the fact that they are second from bottom, they probably deserved something out of the game."

Recent midfield signing Murray, Harriers' best player by far, gave his side every chance to move 11 points clear of relegation when he finished off an excellent move which involved John Williams, Graham Ward and Jesper Christiansen.

It was Murray's first goal for the Aggborough outfit - and it won't be long before others follow if he continues his shoot on sight policy.

During the first half he fired in four long range efforts, two of which were saved with difficult by Quakers goalkeeper Michael Price. The other two flew wide while he also had a header drop on top of the net.

Molby said of Murray: "He's a good player and he's only going to get better. Especially in the first half I thought there was some good link-up play with Christiansen and obviously he got himself a good goal.

"That was the best move of the match. He had another five or six efforts and could have got himself another goal."

After the break Harriers had further chances to wrap up the points but were denied by the woodwork and wayward shooting.

Minutes after Dean Bennett had spurned a glorious opportunity, Matt Gadsby powered a header against the bar following a free kick by Murray.

Battling Darlington, however, never took their foot off the pedal in a search for an equaliser which finally arrived when defender McGurk headed in a cross from substitute Mark Sheeran following a poorly defended free kick.

Molby said: "It is disappointing the fact we are now starting to concede goals again from set-pieces. They are cheap goals. You don't have to do an awful lot to get them.

"With a minute to go we were 11 points away from relegation, now it's still eight.

"There's still some work to be done and we still have two games in hand. But it would have been nice to have won."

Molby's side travel to Bury next weekend fifth from bottom place but are just three points adrift of Bristol Rovers who are 12th in the table.