Harriers 3, Wrexham 1

DEFENDER Danny Jackman hailed Harriers’ cool heads as they successfully rode out a bad tempered clash to get back on track in the Skrill Premier.

Steve Burr’s side demonstrated their ruthless streak as they punished the Dragons for losing their heads.

This fractious game had everything, including contentious two penalty calls, a bizzare goal for Wrexham and a sending off as referee Amy Fearn did her best to keep a grip on a game which teetered on the edge of chaos.

But above all, Harriers demonstrated their growing maturity as they rose above the anarchy which seemed to infect a highly-experienced Wrexham side to out play them.

“This year we’re looking a lot more professional an outfit, a lot more experienced,” said Jackman, who is relishing his extended run at left-back.

“Those sort of games can be niggly and you can be sucked into the way they’re playing but full credit to the lads, we stuck to our task and stayed focus on the football.”

The game exploded into life on the half hour mark.

Striker Rob Ogleby was convinced Wrexham should have had a penalty when he and Chey Dunkley both went to ground in the box while battling for the ball but Fearn ignored his claims.

If Harriers were perhaps slightly lucky it was to their credit they struck while the iron was hot and punished their sulking opponents.

Jackman swept into the box and teed up Joe Lolley, who fired a left-footed effort into the net for his fifth goal of the season.

The defender was fortunate to avoid injury after being caught by Joe Clark’s reckless challenge and the visiting midfielder was lucky to escape with just a yellow card.

Kidderminster threatened to run riot, and Michael Gash saw an effort cleared off the line by Stephen Wright.

Wrexham threatened briefly early in the second-half to get back into the game and Jay Harris’ thunderbolt hit both the bar and the shoulder of a diving Lewis before ricocheting to safety.

But Wrexham felt even more aggreived when Harriers scored their second in the 63rd minute.

Dragons hitman Rob Bishop went to ground clumsily on the edge of the box under pressure from Lee Fowler but as the visitors cried for a spot-kick, Lolley raced onto Lee Vaughan’s pass and saw his cross diverted into the back of the net by luckless defender Mark Carrington.

Things took a strange twist in the 71st minute when substitute Adrian Cieslewicz led a Wrexham counter-attack and rolled an accurate effort into the far corner, only to see it slip through a gaping hole in the side netting.

The overworked Fearn consulted with the fourth official and after a six minute delay, Wrexham were rightly given their goal.

But their hopes of a fight back were dashed moments after the re-start when Dunkley rose imperiously through a crowded box to head home his first goal of the season from a well-taken Vaughan corner.

Salt was rubbed into Wrexham’s wounds in the 80th minute when Bishop was shown a straight red card for raising an elbow to Kyle Storer.

Harriers: Lewis 7, L Vaughan 8, Gowling 7, Dunkley 7, JACKMAN 8, Storer 7, Fowler 7 (Byrne, 83), Malbon 6, Lolley 7, Morgan-Smith 7 (Blissett, 90+5), Gash 6 (Johnson, 90+8). Subs not used: N Vaughan, Demetriou.

Wrexham: Mayebi, Wright, Ashton, Clarke, Harris, Bishop, Ormerod (Cieslewicz, 60), Keates (Hunt, 83), Ogleby (Creighton, 84), Artell, Carrington. Subs not used: Tomassen, Bailey-Jones.

Referee: Amy Fearn (Leicestershire). Attendance: 2,523 (504).