MARK Creighton hailed Harriers after they lifted the Worcester Senior Cup for the first time in five years with a 2-1 victory over Worcester City, writes Harry Carter.

Goals for Luke Maxwell and Jared Hodgkiss saw the Reds cancel out Sean Geddes’ opener for City.

It was the 26th time they had lifted the cup, leaving them just one behind Worcester, who are currently tenants at Aggborough.

The assistant manager said: “It’s always nice to win football games, especially when it’s a cup final.

“No matter what final it is, you want to go and win it and the boys deserved it.”

Creighton also singled out player of the season Hodgkiss, who came on as a substitute early on to shore up Harriers.

He added: “Jared has been outstanding; we took the young lad Kennedy Digie off after 25 minutes because it wasn’t quite working with the three centre halves, we put Jared on and all of a sudden we grew with confidence.

“He drives us forward, he’s done that all season and I’m delighted for him because not only is he fantastic on the pitch, he’s fantastic off it as well.

“The lads love the guy, they really look up to him and he’s a fitting captain and a fitting leader of our boys out there.”

Clinching the cup ensured a positive end to a season where the club has been affected by financial worries.

“There’s been so much doom and gloom about the place, it’s been well-publicised a lot has gone on, but it’s nights like tonight that you breathe a sigh of relief and say actually, that was really nice,” said Creighton.

“We’ve seen a little bit of Luke (Maxwell) recently and there were a few changes it was nice to see a few of those boys get some game time.

“Keyon and Ahmed have done well and when they’ve had a chance to run at people on a poor pitch they’ve done it, we do encourage them to be positive and they took that into tonight when them.”