Harriers were held to a 1-1 draw by Darlington at Aggborough with both sides netting superb goals. 

Will Hatfield’s long-distance screamer had given the Quakers a second half lead,  but Harriers hit back through in-form Alex Prosser’s effort.

With Austin Samuels out of action, Ed Wiliams returned to the starting line-up for Harriers and was in amongst much of what the home side did well in the first 45 minutes; linking up well with Hemmings and Chambers to cause Darlington problems.

In truth, Harriers really ought to have reached the interval ahead, having dominated the opening stages and kept goalkeeper Connell on his toes. Prosser might well have bagged himself a hat-trick in the space of less than ten minutes but, after firing one effort over, was denied by two expert saves; one strong parry and one block with his legs as the midfielder looked to add to his tally.

Butterfield then curled a beauty of an effort wide of the far post with just 17 minutes gone as the home side looked to turn the screw, but Darlington weathered the storm and managed to stifle the attack after that – only a curling Chambers effort over the bar to note.

Williams could and should have scored just a few minutes after the restart but fell over the ball after being set up by Austin, Harriers paying a heavy price for that barely ten minutes later when Darlington opened the scoring. Mannion made one point-blank save, but the ball was reworked and unleashed from distance by Hatfield who rocketed it into the top corner.

The joy would prove to be short-lived when Prosser did lash one past Connell just three minutes later, but Harriers never really managed to push on and threaten again afterward; the only follow upcoming as Austin saw a shot palmed away.

Inside the final five there was a big opening for the home side to win it when sub Davidson was threaded through superbly and on the angle, but he could only fire his effort straight at the boots of the keeper.

After the game, boss Jimmy Shan said: “I thought it was a very, very good performance… naturally there is a lot of disappointment for all of our dominance, but we were the dominant team in the game and restricted the opposition.

“On any other day… we come away 3-1 or 4-1 winners and it would have been deserved.”

After Tuesday’s trip to Farsley Celtic, Harriers rack up even more miles with the journey to Gateshead on Saturday.