KIDDERMINSTER Harriers' captain Lewis Montrose made it a 32nd birthday to remember as he helped his side to a first ever win away at St James’ Park in a 2-0 win over Brackley Town.

Regular skipper Clif Moyo was named among the substitutes for the National League North contest and Montrose was again handed the task of leading the way for the Reds.

Having won back-to-back away victories in the league, they went and made it three thanks to first-half goals from Amari Morgan-Smith and Sam Austin.

The win takes the Harriers into fourth place in the table and are now without a league defeat in five matches.

Town pushed in the second-half to get back into the game but with a helping hand from the goal frame and a top performance from Harriers’ shot-stopper Luke Simpson, the visitors held on.

Montrose insisted that focus will quickly switch to the weekend’s fixture with Farsley Celtic.

“The boys are absolutely shattered” he said.

“You have to work hard if you’re going to win at a place like this.

“They finished third in the last few seasons and are a top side so we’re just happy to have got the win.

“They came at us second-half but we dug in and managed to keep a clean sheet.

“But those three points don’t mean anything unless we go and back it up at the weekend against Farsley.”

Manager Russ Penn was impressed with the way in which the team went about their business on the pitch but expressed his desire to keep finding ways to improve.

“I said before the game we haven’t won here in a while and I wanted a professional, disciplined performance,” he said.

“You have to do that at these places, you need to pick up points and bring something home and we have come back with the maximum tonight.

“It’s their third game in seven days and I thought our energy and pace could affect them in that first half an hour and it did.

“We scored two great goals but I thought we could have been a little bit more ruthless but fair play to the boys.

“Second half was always going to be backs to the wall against a strong, direct Brackley unit with good players but we stood up to the test.

“We are a tight-knit group and we’re staying strong.”