Harriers were beaten for the first time this season after a showing of contrasting halves saw them downed at Southport's Haig Avenue.

Harriers made one change to the starting line-up for this game and it was something of a surprise when manager Gary Whild drafted in striker Reece Styche for his first start as a Harrier while Nathan Blissett, fresh from netting his first goal of the season against Gateshead a few days prior, made do with a spot among the substitutes.

If Styche was of the mindset of wanting to pay back Whild for the faith shown in starting him, he certainly set about that business well in the early stages, forcing two good saves from home goalkeeper Daniel Lloyd-Weston within a couple of minutes at the beginning of the night - a header that was palmed away off Marvin Johnson's cross, followed up by a driven effort from distance that the stopper dealt with well.

Southport's talisman Richard Brodie had an eventful first quarter of an hour; shown an early yellow for a late lunge on Johnson, the hit-man came within inches of opening the scoring just after as he dragged a firm shot just shy of the far post after edging his way past Chey Dunkley to release the shot.

That shifted Southport high into the ascendency and after a spell of control they took the lead just after the mid-way point of the half, a corner whipped into the box and met by a powerful header from Joe Connor which eventually found its way into the back of the net.

From there the contest became a little more even and Southport were indebted to Lloyd-Weston in the final minutes of the first half as he met Reid's header off a Kyle Storer cross with a strong save to force the ball over the bar when it looked destined for the top corner.

It was almost 2-0 seven minutes after the break as Harriers struggled to deal with another decent delivery into the area - Scott Kay met it with a good backward header but could only watch as it bounced off the upright.

Blissett was thrown into the mix soon after the hour and he was amongst the danger soon after, seeing a shot deflected away for a corner after fine work from Johnson, before seeing Southport's McDonald claw away another attempt at close-range.

It was perhaps inevitable that Brodie would end up in hot water after being booked so early on and so it proved in the final moments as he was sent off for a second bookable offence having left an elbow in on Gowling.

In the end Southport negotiated five minutes of added time successfully leaving a frustrated Whild to comment: "It was nowhere near good enough in terms of the standards we've set ourselves.

"We hadn't got that enthusiasm or a desire to get on the ball and influence the game, so it was disappointing."

Southport: Lloyd-Weston, Connor, McDonald, Collins, Fitzpatrick, George, Kay, Brogan (Smith 71) Brodie, Evans (Rutherford 21, Hattersley 83), Marsden. Subs not used: Gorman, Mitchell.

Harriers: Lewis, Hodgkiss, Storer, Dunkley, Byrne (Gittings 77), Johnson, Reid, Styche (Verma 64), Grimes (Blissett 54), Nicholson, Gowling.

Subs not used: Obeng, Singh.

Referee: Richard Wigglesworth Attendance: 769