LINCOLN 0 HARRIERS 1

A FLASH of Dean Bennett's spectacular best rewrote the history books for Kidderminster Harriers on Tuesday.

Harriers recorded their best winning run in Division Three with a 1-0 success at Lincoln marking their third victory.

The game appeared to have 0-0 written all over it after the second half died down dramatically.

But Harriers, and Bennett in particular, were just waiting to pounce and they did in devastating fashion five minutes from time.

The midfielder, who had spent most of the game in attack until a tactical substitution, sprinted clear after nipping onto a loose ball from a Tony Bird header near the halfway-line.

And the confident Bennett, amazingly still on the transfer list, produced a lethal finish from just inside the area for his third goal of the season.

Harriers probably deserved the three points on the back of a dominant first-half performance.

In fact, the visitors often looked like the home side in that period as they controlled possession and made Lincoln chase shadows.

The second half was more of a scrap but Harriers' back-four did well to keep Lincoln at distance.

Alan Buckley's side could never really claim to have done enough in this game though Scott Stamps was forced to nod a Steve Holmes header off the line on 29 minutes.

Harriers had forged their first shot on target three minutes earlier when Bennett rose well to head Ian Clarkson's cross with keeper Alan Marriott scrambling across his goal-line to save.

But it appeared the visitors were not going to make enough of their possession.

Appleby's 30-yard free-kick was plucked out of the air by Marriott on 35 minutes and then Bo Henriksen drove a useful effort too close to the keeper after good work from Colin Larkin and Clarkson.

With Drewe Broughton (flu) and Ian Foster (suspension) still missing, Harriers had moved Appleby back to midfield and Bennett into attack with good effect.

The latter sped down the right a minute before half-time in a tricky run but his pull-back was fired wastefully over by on-loan Larkin from close range.

After all that, Harriers, cheered on by 130 away fans, often struggled to get into the second half and relied on some solid defending.

Stuart Brock dealt well with long-range efforts from Ian Hamilton and Tony Battersby but Kingsley Black really should have done better on 54 minutes.

The experienced winger took advantage of defensive hesitancy to earn a one-on-one with Brock but he scuffed his shot embarrassingly straight at the keeper from 15 yards.

It proved costly for Lincoln as Harriers, who introduced Sam Shilton and Andy Ducros into the attack, swooped for the points.

Bennett's goal was reward for another good display from the 23-year-old but the rest of the team contributed with hard-working, tigerish performances.

LINCOLN: Marriott; Bailey, Holmes, Brown, Bimson; Black (Walker 63), Sedgemore (Camm 83), Hamilton, Buckley (Gain 63); Battersby, Cameron. Subs not used: Horrigan, McConville.

HARRIERS: Brock 7; Clarkson 7, Sall 7, Hinton 7, Stamps 7; Appleby 7 (Ducros 72), WILLIAMS 8, Blake 7; Bennett 7, Henriksen 7 (Bird 82), Larkin 7 (Shilton 69, 6). Subs not used: Murphy, Smith.

ATTENDANCE: 2,249.

SHOTS ON: Lincoln 8 Harriers 5.

SHOTS OFF: Lincoln 9 Harriers 6.

CORNERS: Lincoln 3 Harriers 4.

YELLOW CARDS: Lincoln 1 (Battersby), Harriers 1 (Appleby).

SHUTTLE STAR MAN: Danny Williams.

Led the midfield and gave the defence plenty of support in a good away performance from Harriers. Won plenty of tackles and headers, while also using the ball intelligently.