FORMER Kidderminster Harriers boss Graham Allner has hailed the club’s FA Cup Fourth Round trip to Sunderland as fantastic, writes Nick Pullen.

Allner, who is widely regarded as Harriers most successful manager, was at the helm when they defeated Football League sides Birmingham City and Preston North End and reached the Fifth Round for the first time in the club’s history.

They were finally edged out 1-0 by Billy Bond’s West Ham United side.

He said: “No matter what you do in the league, the FA Cup magnifies everything.

“It still resonates with people around the country from the first time we went on an FA Cup run.

“Somehow it still seems like it was only yesterday, yet it will almost be 20 years to the day when we faced Preston.

“It doesn’t matter what else we achieved, like reaching the Welsh Cup Final and winning the league, it’s the FA Cup that people and the media for that matter all remember and it can only be good for the club.

“People always say about clubs who go on an FA Cup run, that their league form goes off a bit.

“Following the Fifth Round tie with West Ham, we went onto win the league that season which I always thought was our biggest achievement.

“They wouldn’t promote us at the the time because of the ground, but I think the FA Cup run helped put pressure on the authorities.

Allner rarely gets the chance to watch Harriers these days as he is heavily involved with Scouting Network, covering clubs throughout the Midlands and beyond. But he will be back at Aggborough at the end of the month for an event organised by KHIST on January 31which is imaginatively entitled An Evening with Graham Allner.

And Allner is hoping to have some of his former troops in attendance such as Kim Casey, Ocker Davies, Micky Tuohy, Chris Brindley, John Deakin, John Barton and Paul Bancroft.