Harriers 1
Crawley 1

A HOWLER by goalkeeper Chris MacKenzie ensured Harriers dropped two points after drawing with Crawley at Aggborough on Saturday.

Striker James Constable had opened the scoring to make it ten goals for the season, but MacKenzie allowed striker Guy Madjo steal the ball off him while taking a goal-kick and grab a leveller.

But for the error Harriers would have made two wins out of three games, however this was the second match in a row that the Aggborough side had let a lead slip.

The home side played well in patches in the first half but struggled to get a hold of the ball and invited pressure from Crawley after the break.

Constable headed wide after defender Pablo Mills missed MacKenzie's long goal-kick forward in the opening minutes.

Gavin Hurren, back after a three-match ban, was shown a yellow card by referee Mr Naylor for scything down Jamie Stevens.

Jamie Cook was brought down by defender Mark Creighton on the edge of the box after skipping past several tackles but the resulting free-kick hit the wall.

Crawley defender Mills was looking effective at both ends, heading over from a corner in the 21st minute, before racing back to beat Constable to Michael Blackwood's cross, with the Harriers hitman ready to pounce.

Harriers were building up a head of steam as the first half wore and a stroke of luck allowed Constable to open the scoring.

Blackwood's cross took a wicked deflection and Constable deftly directed a header beyond keeper Ashley Bayes in the 44th minute.

The home side were unlucky not to go in at half-time 2-0 ahead when Justin Richards' shot crashed off the bar and seemed to cross the line before bouncing out of the goal.

Harriers were unable to keep their momentum going in the second half and invited pressure from Crawley.

The visitors saw a lot of the ball but lacked cutting edge, even with the robust Madjo leading the line.

Richards saw a 58th minute shot saved by Bayes after being played in by Brian Smikle, but an error by MacKenzie allowed Madjo to level the scores in the 70th minute.

The keeper did not see Madjo lurking behind him and put the ball down and rolled it out for a kick, only for the Crawley hitman to nip in from behind, muscle MacKenzie off the ball and level the scores.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Harriers and Crawley bossed the end of the game without looking capable of scoring a second.

Harriers: MacKenzie 3; Harkness 6; Hurren 6; Creighton 6; Whitehead 6; Constable 7; Richards 8; Penn 6; Blackwood 7; Bignot 6; Bennett 6 (Smike 54, 6).

Crawley: Bayes; Bull; Mills; Stevens; Thompson; Madjo; Bulman; Pitman; Pinault; Crook; Krause.

Referee: M A Naylor (South Yorks). Attendance: 1462.