Harriers 2, Woking 0

MANAGER Andy Thorn laid his attacking cards on the table as Harriers injected life back into their Skrill Premier play-off push on Tuesday night.

The Carpetmen recorded their first win in six league games to close the gap on the top five to three points.

More importantly, this was a glimpse of how Kidderminster’s relatively new manager wants his team to play.

The former Wimbledon defender ditched the 4-3-1-2 formation and went with a 4-4-2 that seemed to invigorate the Reds.

With Amari Morgan-Smith and Anthony Malbon looking very bright, spearheading Harriers, and Adrian Cieslewicz producing his best performance in a Kidderminster shirt, this was a far more proactive display.

If not for the heroics of Cards keeper Aaron Howe, the home team might have won by a lot more.

Victory also eased the pressure on Thorn, who had been subject to chanting from Harriers fans in Saturday’s draw with Braintree.

He said: “It was difficult on Saturday. Hopefully we put all that to bed now.

“The support we had was absolutely phenomenal and it helps when you get off the start that we did because we really came out of the traps flying.

“I’ve always played two strikers and we weren’t able to because of various different things.

“I think everybody saw what we can be as an attacking threat if we can get everybody on the pitch we want.

“The first goals was phenomenal, there were about 12 passes before we scored.

“They came back into the game as you might expect but our work ethic and application was good, we were a threat all night and deserved the points.”

Fears that the poisonous atmosphere from the weekend may continue were quashed when Harriers opened the scoring 45 seconds after kick-off.

Cieslewicz raced down the right and produced a low ball which Morgan-Smith side-footed home for his third goal in two games.

When captain Kyle Storer (pictured celebrating his goal with Mickey Demetriou) bent a lovely free-kick into the bottom right corner in the 69th, the win was safe.

It could have been more late on but Howe denied Morgan-Smith and produced a fine double save against Cieslewicz. Malbon was unlucky to see his deft downward shot hit the bar.

Despite seeing more of the ball, Woking could not find a way through well-drilled Harriers. Jack Marriott had their best chance in the 18th minute but his lob flew wide.

The manager said the scenes on Saturday were forgotten.

He added: “Of course it hurts but you’ve got to get on with it. It is part and parcel of the game and I didn’t like some of it but that’s all water under the bridge. I don’t hold grudges. I get upset when the missus gets mad at me and then I know I’ve got a problem.”