Kidderminster Harriers 3 Oxford United 1

Oxford fell to just their second defeat of the season with a distinctly below-par performance at Kidderminster Harriers this afternoon. On a high after beating Yeovil Town 1-0 in the FA Cup first round last weekend, and cheered on by over 2,000 travelling fans, United were rattled by two Kidderminster goals in the opening 20 minutes. In fact, the Yellows were a goal down just two minutes into the game, when Robbie Matthews shot past Ryan Clarke after the prostrate Adam Murray could only poke the ball into Matthews' path.

Quarter of an hour later Harriers doubled their lead after a soft free kick conceded by James Constable about 30 yards out. The ball was touched sideways to Matthew Barnes-Homer, who rifled an unstoppable shot past the flying Clarke. United were rocking, and hadn't even threatened Dean Coleman in the home goal.

Oxford were handed a lifeline after half an hour when Sam Deering chased a hopeful long ball from Steven Kinniburgh into the penalty area. Coleman came charging out but caught LSD as he clipped the ball away from the keeper and the Us were awarded a penalty. James Constable stepped up to convert the spot kick against his former club. For the first time in the game the Us were now on the front foot. A Constable snap shot went straight at Coleman, Deering headed just wide, Coleman saved again from Dannie Bulman, and a Luke Foster effort was cleared off the line. On the stroke of half time Clarke got down well to smother a Brian Smikle shot, when the Kiddy player should have done better.

The travelling fans were optimistic going into the second half, but again the Oxford players disappointed as they failed to capitalise on their momentum. Seven minutes after the break a Barnes-Homer cross found Matthews unmarked in the penalty area and he had little problem scoring Kiddy's third goal. Oxford continued to battle away, but were unable to find the killer ball, and with 15 minutes remaining it was effectively game over when Kinniburgh made a rash challenge on Barnes-Homer to concede a penalty. It hardly looked like a foul, but with the refereeing awarding it he had to dismiss the young Scot as he was clearly denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Matthews took the penalty, obviously with an eye on a hat-trick, but Clarke pulled off a superb full-length save to his right, and then managed to set himself to pull off an equally good stop from Smikle's follow up. United's last chance was a strong free kick driven in by Adam Chapman that Coleman just managed to parry, but in truth Oxford were deservedly well beaten by Kidderminster, who were sharper and had obviously benefitted from their rest last weekend.

Chris Wilder made one change to the side that beat Yeovil, as Jack Midson made way for Deering, making his first start since Boxing Day last year, when he broke his leg in Wilder's first game in charge at Salisbury City. Deering was the first player to make way as United chased the game, with Midson coming on as Oxford changed to 4-4-2. Eight minutes later Adam Murray was replaced by wide-man Marcus Kelly, making his first appearance since the end of August. With eight minutes to go Matt Green was caught and had to limp off, Adam Chapman his replacement.

Today's referee was Michael Naylor, who also officiated the last time that Oxford conceded three goals, in the 4-3 win at Histon on 15 August. He was a card-happy chappy, showing seven yellow cards, four to United, in addition to Kinniburgh's straight red. Constable was booked for, as usual, being a bit mouthy, Bulman and Mark Creighton were carded for fouls (neither of which merited a card), and Green was shown yellow for diving in the Kiddy penalty area (and yes, no one touched him). The attendance was 3,569, of whom 2,009 were supporting the Mighty Yellows. This was the day's top Conference attendance, and Kidderminster's best gate of the season.

The defeat, which sees Kidderminster climb to eighth place, allowed the chasing pack to close the gap on Oxford to five points. Stevenage Borough are second after their 5-3 win over 20th-placed Gateshead, Yemi Odubade among the Borough scorers, while Kettering Town are third after they won 2-0 at ninth-placed Cambridge United, with Wayne Hatswell scoring a third-minute own goal. Mansfield Town remain fourth after winning 2-0 at Crawley Town, while Luton Town are in fifth place after their 2-0 win at third-bottom Grays Athletic. York City climbed one place to sixth after beating second-bottom Ebbsfleet United 1-0. Rushden & Diamonds are in seventh position after their 2-1 win over Histon.

Bottom side Chester City lost 3-1 at Tamworth, and fourth-bottom Forest Green Rovers drew 2-2 at Altrincham. Eastbourne Borough are 19th after losing to a last-minute goal at home to Salisbury and Hayes & Yeading's 2-0 win at Wrexham takes them up to 18th. United's next opponents, Barrow, are in 16th place after being held to a 2-2 draw at home by AFC Wimbledon. [@news]2594[/@news][@opponent]kidderminster harriers[/@opponent]