JIMMY O’Connor will take charge of Kidderminster Harriers for the last two National League North matches this season.

The experienced defender, who had been helping run the team while injured, takes control of first-team affairs after manager Mark Yates met with chairman Colin Gordon following Friday’s defeat to Leamington.

The 2-1 loss all but ended Harriers’ hopes of making the play-offs with the club down in 10th five points off the top seven.

Gordon decided Yates, who had replaced Neil MacFarlane after he departed in January, would not be considered for the manager’s role at Aggborough next term.

Ex-Walsall player O’Connor, 34, will be assisted by midfielder Russ Penn, 33, for the games at Southport on Easter Monday (3pm) and against Guiseley on Saturday while the club find their next manager.

Harriers' loan defender Harry Flowers has returned to parent club Solihull Moors.

Yates had said the centre-half asked to leave Aggborough after he took him off at half-time against Leamington and the player has since been recalled by Solihull.

Harriers went ahead against Leamington thanks to forward Joe Ironside’s fourth-minute strike but the visitors hit back through Jack Edwards and former Worcester City player Junior English to take the points.

Yates said the defeat summed up Kidderminster’s disappointing season before later ending his second managerial spell at the club following the meeting with Gordon.

The former Harriers midfielder continued: “It was a strange game.

"We started for 10 minutes like a house on fire, scored, opened them up three or four times but then there were two goals out of nothing.

“Looking from the weeks I’ve been here and the season as a whole it probably just sums up our season.

“In the second period of the first half we just stopped playing and offered them the chance to score a couple of goals.

“In the second half we had to change it and we were great but it was too little too late and it’s a disappointing end to the game.

"We wanted it to go right to the wire but that’s just the way the season has gone.”

Yates said of his spell in charge: “I’ve loved it. It’s a club close to my heart and we’ve got some good players.

“The squad doesn’t need an overhaul, it just needs tweaking and making sure everything is in place. Whoever does that has a good base to build on."

Harriers: Palmer, Austin, Taylor, Flowers (Penn 45), Horsfall, Johnson, McAlinden (Richards 75), Butterfield, Ironside, Chambers, Williams. Unused subs: Higginson, White, Heaton.

Attendance: 1,515.