Nortwich 1
Harriers 1

INCONSISTENT Harriers missed a chance to rise to sixth in the Blue Square Premier as they were held by bottom side Northwich Victoria on Tuesday night at the Victoria Stadium.

Victory would have propelled Harriers seven places up the table but they were unable to rise to the occasion and were out-fought by an energetic and determined Northwich side.

So far this season Harriers' had either been dashing or disastrous and this schizophrenia meant fans have not known what to expect when coming through the turnstiles.

But this time Harriers were simply lacklustre in midfield and allowed Northwich, who had went into the with one league draw and 11 defeats, to pour forward in the second half.

The Aggborough side were indebted to goalkeeper Chris MacKenzie, who kept Northwich at bay with an assured performance under pressure and make several excellent saves.

The visitors played in fits and starts and in a ten minute spell early on could have piled more misery on Northwich.

James Constable flashed a low shot wide in the 11th minute and Jonny Harkness tested keeper Ben Connett with a dipping 35-yard free-kick moments later.

From the resulting corner Northwich failed to clear and Connett had to tip away Justin Richards' close range header.

Mark Creighton also saw a thumping header come off the cross bar as it looked like Harriers may overrun the home side.

But Northwich soaked up the pressure and tried to hit back, spear-headed by the triple threat of Kevin Townson, Chris Williams and Paul Tait.

In-fact Harriers opened the scoring against the run of play when strikers James Constable and Richards combined to great effect in the 35th minute.

Constable burst down the right and delivered a well-weighted low pass that allowed Richards time to control and slot the ball beyond Connett.

Instead of building on their goal the visitors went into their shell and allowed spirited Northwich to power forward in the second half.

Harriers were pegged back by a pumped-up Northwich side, which relied on hard work rather than ability.

But MacKenzie was proving an almost impenetrable barrier in Harriers' goal.

He made a brilliant diving save to push Brad Maylett's goal-bound shot onto the post early in the half. The home side were not to be denied and Williams latched onto Townson's pass to beat Harriers' stopper in the 51st minute.

Townson headed wide with the goal at his mercy but MacKenzie denied the Northwich man's efforts in the 71st minute when he made an acrobatic save to keep his shot out.

Harriers could muster little going forward but the introduction of Michael McGrath gave them a lift and they battled back into the game.

MacKenzie did well to get a hold of Williams' fierce shot as Northwich piled forward, but Mark Creighton and Stuart Whitehead stood up well to the barrage of balls into the area.

Like Saturday's win over Salisbury Harriers had to endure six minutes of injury time after substitute Michael Byrne fell awkwardly late on and was stretchered off.

Harriers defended manfully and could have snatched a winner when McGrath sent in a last-minute free-kick that Connett missed under pressure from Richards, but the ball went out of play.

Harriers: MACKENZIE 8; Harkness 6 (McGrath, 68, 7); Creighton 6; Whitehead 6; Constable 6; Richards 6; Penn 6; Blackwood 5; Ferrell 5 (Barnes-Homer, 75) ; Bignot 5; Bennett 5.

Northwich: Connett; Battersby; Wilson; Strong; Brown; Carr; Heslop; Maylett (Byrne 75 (Johnson, 88); Williams; Townson; Tait (Maamria, 80).

Referee: SRM Proctor. Attendance: