HARRIERS endured a miserable afternoon at title favourites Salford City as they went down 3-0 after a poor second-half showing.

Following two straight wins against FC United of Manchester and Leamington going into this one, it was no surprise that there was only one change to the starting line-up – that being the return of skipper Ryan Croasdale to the eleven after he missed the Leamington game, Declan Weeks the man to drop to the bench.

It certainly wasn’t a half to write home about in terms of solid goal mouth action.

For the home side, Dieseruvwe and Allen had half sights at goal that were comfortably dealt with, while Harriers edged forward through Elton Ngwatala who saw a distance effort saved by Max Crocombe.

Liam Hogan, the City skipper, couldn’t quite manage to get on to the end of a delivery as the half wore on – a similar story for Emmanuel Sonupe up at the other end as he stretched to try and meet a corner.

Just as the half looked like it would ebb out into a goalless affair, there was a flashpoint as a tackle in the Salford area saw the ball well won – Beesley then inexplicably handling it on the ground to the award of a penalty which, after some delay, Crocombe saved from Ironside.

If that was a bad enough end to the first half to Harriers then the start to the second was a nightmare; two goals netted by the hosts in a matter of seven minutes. Redshaw got them both with his first two touches as a half-time substitute, first firing in off the upright on the angle past Hall and, just a few minutes later, tucking home a Dieseruvwe cross.

Worse still, Redshaw should have wrapped up his hat-trick just past the hour as he robbed the ball from an attempted Daly pass, only to smash en effort off the bar.

He wouldn’t be denied for too long, however – a second half that was, in all honesty, one-way traffic saw the game put to bed inside the final eleven minutes as Redshaw found himself on the spot once again to tuck home a cross, this time from fellow sub Phenix.

HARRIERS: Hall, Williams, Taylor, Daly, Digie, Croasdale, McQuilkin (Austin 80), Ngwatala, Bradley, Sonupe (Brown 63), Ironside (Joachim 73).

Subs not used: Webb, Keane Attendance: 1,320 Referee: David Underwood