Solihull Moors 3
Harriers 2

EVEN at this early stage, any thoughts manager Steve Burr might have on who will make up Harriers’ first team next season would have crystalised on the evidence of Tuesday night’s display.

Burr watched a collection of the squad’s younger players and triallists struggle at Solihull Moors in the first half, before the introduction of the senior players produced a much-improved performance.

The manager fielded a relatively young team in the first half, which contained the likes of Nathan Hayward, Jack Byrne and Andy Stevens.

There were also a hosts of hopefuls aiming to nail down a deal at Aggborough, including former Coventry and Nuneaton defender Stuart Giddings and former Macclesfield man Kristian Dennis.

Once again swash-buckling right-back Lee Vaughan stood out for Harriers, despite a rash challenge early on, but the hosts dealt comfortably with the visitors’ threat and exposed some defensive frailties.

The unfamiliar centreback pairing of Michael Briscoe and trialist Mike Williams had struggled to pick up runners from midfield all night and Junior English raced onto Dean Lea’s throughball and slotted the ball past Stevens.

The 39th minute goal had been against the run of play, as Harriers had taken control of the game, with Dennis thumping a first-time effort off target and Nathan Hayward rattling a post with a firm shot after good work by Matt Blair.

They found themselves 2-0 down just before the break, when Briscoe fouled Moors substitute Adam Cunnington.

From 30-yards out, Ryan Beswick’s low effort evaded the wall and caught out the inexperienced Stevens.

Burr rang the changes at half-time and made seven substitutions, with the likes of Keith Briggs, Dave Hankin, Tom Sharpe, Tom Shaw, Mark Albrighton and Danny Lewis coming on.

Former Birmingham and Kettering striker James McPike also partnered Dennis up front and profited from a host of senior players coming into the team.

The forward, who was once given a Mercedes by Birmingham’s Olivier Kapo, put himself in the driving seat to earn a deal when he bundled Hankin’s right wing cross over the line three minutes into the second half.

Dennis levelled the scores in the 54th minute with a curling 20-yard effort that evaded substitute keeper Jamie Atkins.

Harriers looked set to go on and win the game but an error by the experienced Albrighton handed Solihull the winner.

The former Doncaster and Stevenage man pulled fleet-footed Ross Dempster back in the box as he raced onto a long ball forward, and the Moors hitman neatly dispatched the resulting penalty into the bottom left hand corner.

Lewis kept Solihull out when he tipped over Tom Overfield’s rising shot from the edge of the box.

Harriers pushed for a leveller, with Tom Shaw drawing a save from Atkins and McPike heading a well-taken Hankin corner over the bar.

Harriers: Stevens (Lewis, 46); Vaughan (Sharpe, 46); Giddings (Albrighton, 46); Williams; Byrne (Briggs, 46); Briscoe (Caines, 71); Hayward ( Shaw, 46); Gittings (Hadley, 59); Connor (McPike, 46); Dennis; Blair (Hankin, 46). Unused subs: Hull; Thompson-Brown.

Solihull: Singh (Atkins, 46); Midworth (Coe, 46); Langdon; Clarke; Streete; Tiernan; Lea (Garvey, 46); English; West (Cunnington, 27); Price (Dempster, 46); Beswick (Overfield, 72). Referee: M Howes.