HARRIERS were thumped on their way out of the FA Trophy, exiting at the hands of Curzon Ashton with a 3-0 defeat.

In truth the visitors were never at the races and mustered just one shot at target all afternoon, the home side leading at the break and comfortably seeing out the success in the second period.

For what was their second trip to the Tameside Stadium this season, Harriers made two changes to their starting line-up. After returning to Shrewsbury with his loan cut short, Cameron Gregory was replaced by Tom Palmer.

After recovering from a broken nose a number of weeks ago, Rhys Williams was restored to the eleven at the expense of Ryan Johnson.

From the off, Curzon created the greater number of opportunities, Baillie forcing Palmer into an early save after latching onto a loose ball inside the area, the dangerous Miller later shooting and only seeing his effort slice wide with the aid of a deflection.

Past the half hour, Harriers went within a coat of paint of breaking the deadlock when a rising Hemmings effort hit the bar. While it was hardly a bad ‘miss’, it was one the visitors would be made to rue nonetheless when Cuzon stole ahead in stunning circumstances; Calveley catching the ball beautifully from distance with a shot that arrowed into the top corner with one of the last kicks of the half.

That goal on the stroke of half time, plus the loss of Milan Butterfield through injury, all but killed off Harriers hopes of getting something from the tie. A little over ten after the restart, only a poor finish from Davies prevented the lead being doubled for Curzon as he headed a cross wide of the target.

The second goal came with barely a quarter hour left to play, and after Miller had headed wide. A cross had come into the area and, under no real pressure, Palmer caught it before going on to collide with Moyo, dropping the ball in the process to Jolley, who poked it into the unguarded net.

Harriers needed to chase the game at that point but weren’t able to do so with any real conviction, coming unstuck again as Curzon netted a third with just six minutes left, Dimiao taking the ball beyond Palmer and finishing comfortably.

HARRIERS: Palmer, Austin, Gregory, Moyo, R Williams, Butterfield (Johnson 46), Weeks, E Williams (Shenton 58), Chambers, Peniket (Diau 62), Hemmings.

Subs not used: Neligwa, De Garis, Prosser, Digie

Attendance: 226

Referee: Paul Brown