SHREWSBURY 2 HARRIERS 3

THEY say luck must be earned and Kidderminster Harriers certainly deserved their fortune in Division Three on Saturday.

Harriers' first win at Shrewsbury and the third on their travels in a row had all the ingredients of a great game - goals, controversy, heroes and villains.

While home fans will disagree, Harriers reaped the fruits of much of their early-season efforts in Shropshire.

Luck had not been in great supply for Ian Britton's men before the weekend but that changed at Gay Meadow.

It wasn't that Harriers played badly, indeed they gave a tremendous response following their Macclesfield defeat.

But for at least several of the goals and much of the first half there was someone watching over the men from Aggborough.

With five minutes gone, top scorer Bo Henriksen stunned the Shrewsbury fans in a 3,507 crowd.

He somehow avoided the offside trap before showing immaculate control to turn and fire a strong shot that keeper Ian Dunbavin could only help into his net.

But big forward Drewe Broughton was certainly not caught up in Harriers' lucky break.

After a ninth-minute clash of heads, Broughton needed a total of nine stitches, including some as he arrived late for the second half, and a big bandage.

Charging around the pitch like an escapee from the set of The Mummy, the spirited striker was still left searching for his first goal of the season and picked up a yellow card for the fifth game in a row.

Harriers' apparent lack of defensive organisation in the first half was mainly down to Shrewsbury's ability to attack down the flanks.

Ryan Lowe fired a good chance over on just two minutes from a Luke Rodgers cross and later tested Stuart Brock with a firm shot.

Rodgers volleyed over but then provided the ammunition for Lowe, once again unmarked, to acrobatically turn home the equaliser on 17 minutes.

Unsettled Harriers should have been punished again on 19 minutes when referee David Pugh spotted a shirt pull from Lee Ayres on Rodgers that was less than obvious.

But Brock pulled off a fine save to his left from Nigel Jemson's spot-kick and an even better one to block Karl Murray's close-range follow-up.

Many thought justice was done and Harriers seemed keen to make the most of it.

John Melligan had a shot tipped over by Dunbavin before Bo Henriksen's clever pass gave Sean Flynn an excellent chance that he curled wide on 27 minutes.

The fast-paced action showed few signs of slowing down as Sam Shilton was the next to be denied by Dunbavin.

Jemson chipped wide for Shrewsbury before he fed Lowe who calmly beat Brock to give the home side a 44th-minute lead.

Crucially, Harriers rustled up an equaliser before half-time and bizarre it was too.

Danny Williams' low shot from 20 yards after a free-kick cannoned off the wall, sending the ball spinning in the opposite direction and into the bottom corner.

The slow-motion strike was followed by another crazy goal 10 minutes into the second half.

Shilton sent over a cross from the right and Shrewsbury defender David Artell dived to head into his own net at the far post.

Harriers, having switched to a 4-4-2 formation, now looked comfortable with their lead.

Brock saved from Jemson and Rodgers but the visitors' Shilton almost added to the catalogue of unusual goals with a flicked long-range shot that almost caught out Dunbavin.

SHREWSBURY: Dunbavin; Moss, Redmile, Artell, Van Blerk (Drysdale 46); Murray, Atkins, Woan (Murphy 80); Lowe, Jemson, Rodgers. Subs: Wilding, Kendall, Stevens.

HARRIERS: Brock 8; Smith 7, Ayres 7, Stamps 6 (Coleman 46, 6); Hinton 7, Melligan 8, WILLIAMS 8, Flynn 7, Shilton 7; Broughton 7, Henriksen 8. Subs: Danby, Bennett, Parrish, Foster.

SHOTS ON: Shrewsbury 9, Harriers 5.

SHOTS OFF: Shrewsbury 8, Harriers 7.

CORNERS: Shrewsbury 7, Harriers 9.

GOALS: Henriksen 5, Lowe 17, Lowe 44, Williams 45, Artell (og) 55.

YELLOW CARDS: Shrewsbury 3 (Lowe, Murray, Moss), Harriers 3 (Henriksen, Hinton, Broughton).

SHUTTLE STAR MAN: Danny Williams. Back to somewhere near his powerful best after a disappointing display against Macclesfield the previous week, like many of his team-mates. Scored his second goal of the season.