IT never rains but it pours, according to the old adage - and with two tough away games coming up, Kidderminster Harriers are going to need a sturdy umbrella.

To extend the analogy, inclement weather looked like giving way to bluer skies during the early stages of their clash with Lincoln City on Saturday - but come 4.45pm storm clouds were well and truly gathering over Aggborough.

Boss Ian Britton remains convinced a shift in players' attitudes will help them turn the corner, but trips to second-placed Hull City and Huddersfield, who were in the Second Division last season, could yet provide them with a deeper trough to claw their way out of.

Only one point separated Harriers and Lincoln before Saturday's clash in what looked like an excellent opportunity to end a winless run of six games.

However, the visitors boasted the meanest defence in the division, having only conceded four goals - and breaking them down proved a tough order for Britton's men.

Breaking the opposition down has been a problem for Harriers all season, and teams seem to be rapidly picking up on what is needed to eke out a win at Aggborough.

In truth Lincoln were no better than Harriers in most departments and Marcus Richardson's athletic overhead equaliser, which would have graced any World Cup, is just the sort of goal a team concedes when it is at a low ebb.

However, when the tide turned against Britton's troops it turned into a real test of character - and by the boss' admission, his men were found wanting.

On-loan West Brom starlet Lloyd Dyer has provided some of the brighter moments of the barren run and it was with a welcome surge of decisiveness that he gave his temporary team the lead on 12 minutes.

He burst onto the edge of the box on the left, shrugging off Lincoln defender Simon Weaver before executing a perfectly-angled shot low into the far corner.

It was the kind of clinical finish that has been missing from misfiring strikers Bo Henriksen and Andy Bishop - and you know Harriers are out of shape when the long-haired Danish talisman is struggling for form.

Cheshire referee Scott Mathieson seemed to sum up the way things were going seven minutes later when he stopped play as Kidderminster were beginning a counter attack to deal with an injury to a Lincoln player - despite having let play continue when City were on the front foot.

Lincoln's Paul Mayo had rattled the Harriers crossbar with a dipping free kick on nine minutes and blasted one high from a similar position on the left on 27 minutes amid a concerted spell of pressure.

Richard Liburd proceeded to miss an excellent chance from close range just after the half-hour mark when Richardson played the ball in from the left.

However, they finally made the breakthrough on 33 minutes when the highly impressive Richard Butcher chipped a cross in from the right for Richardson to defy gravity and leave Harriers keeper Stuart Brock rooted to the spot as the ball nestled in the net.

Matt Gadsby, operating on the right for Harriers, missed a chance to equalise almost immediately when he sliced an effort over the bar from the edge of the area.

Maybe a half-time Britton talk could have helped turn things around - but what turned out to be Lincoln's winner two minutes before the break knocked the stuffing out of his players.

They failed to clear a long Mayo throw from the right into the area and Butcher pounced on the free ball in mid-air to nod a well placed header past a stranded Brock into the top right-hand corner of the net.

And that was that, really. The second half was all but a non-event, with Dean Bennett, John Williams and new non-contract striker Mickael Antoine-Curier coming on for Gadsby, Bishop and Hinton but failing to make any real impact.

On 72 minutes Williams tried to replicate Richardson's effort but his overhead kick was comfortably held by Alan Marriott in the Lincoln goal.

Half chances were missed by skipper Adam Willis, who headed onto the top of the net, and John Williams, who headed over, with time running out.

Mark Bailey headed off the line from a header by the useful Adie Smith in the last minute but you never really felt it was going in.

And a Dean Bennett effort which cleared the roof of the North Stand seemed to sum up the afternoon.

With the players on their books, Harriers should be well capable of steering clear of the Third Division danger zone.

But that's where they are now - and they owe the fans gritty performances up north over the next week if they are to bring a little ray of sunshine into what is becoming a gloomy season.