Worcester City 2 Kidderminster Harriers 3 (From Worcester News)

Worcester City 2 Kidderminster Harriers 3

9:56pm Monday 8th February 2010 in

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WORCESTER City let a two-goal lead slip as Kidderminster Harriers won at St George's Lane for the second time in a week.

Having already seen off their neighbours in the FA Trophy, Harriers did the double over Carl Heeley's men by advancing to the final of the Worcestershire FA Senior Cup.

First-half strikes from Alfie Carter and Rob Elvins had put City in command but Darryl Knights and two Lee Baker rockets wiped out that advantage within 20 minutes of the restart as the Aggborough side booked a date with either Halesowen Town or Stourbridge.

Baker’s shots knocked the stuffing out of Worcester and they were unable to find a way back in front of a fraction of the crowd that had cheered them on the last time Harriers were in town.

Caretaker boss Heeley made four changes from the side beaten 3-2 at Havant and Waterlooville on Saturday with Kevin Spencer, Jordan Fitzpatrick, Elvins and Louis Bridges coming in for Shabir Khan, Mark Clyde, Craig Wilding and Marco Adaggio.

Only four minutes were on the clock when Carter took advantage of an error by Jordan Jones to rob the right-back of the ball and slide it underneath the advancing Jasbir Singh.

Elvins, also paired with Carter up front in the 4-1 quarter-final victory over Redditch United, brought a save out of Singh on his near post soon after before City keeper Jake Meredith made a mess of Knights’ effort and was relieved to see the ball go past the post. Worcester extended their lead in the 22nd minute. Spencer’s long throw to the centre of the box saw captain Tom Kemp flick the ball on and Elvins crashed a volley into the bottom corner.

Harriers, skippered by Chris McPhee in an otherwise much-changed line-up, threatened with headers from Tom Sharpe but their first telling moment came when Aaron Farrell forced Meredith to block his stinging drive.

City brought on Wilding and Shabir in place of Kemp and Graham Ward in defence at the break, and Marco Adaggio for Elvins six minutes later, but it was Steve Burr's side who picked up the pace.

Knights halved the deficit in the 54th minute as he ran on to Baker’s pass to fire the ball beyond Meredith, and seconds later the same player forced Meredith into a good save.

The visitors had City rocking and drew level on 59 minutes when Baker hammered a left-foot drive into the bottom corner of the net, giving Meredith no chance.

He was at it again five minutes later as City stood off and allowed the left-back to let fly from 20 yards with a carbon-copy goal and that proved enough despite Singh’s late save to deny Adaggio.

City: Meredith 6, Ward (Shabir H/T) 8, Spencer 7, Fitzpatrick 5, Daniel 6, Kemp (Wilding H/T) 6, Davies 5, Walker 6, Elvins (Adaggio 51) 7, Carter 8*, Bridges 5. Subs not used: Dinsmore, Clyde.

Harriers: Singh, Jones, Baker, Sharpe, Hayward, Hull, McPhee, Hadley, Matthews, Knights, Farrell. Subs not used: Coleman, Finnigan, Seekings, Crompton.

Attendance: 290.