Harriers 3
Histon 0

MIDFIELDER Brian Smikle and his Harriers team-mates have timed their bid for the play-offs to perfection after sweeping aside the fitful Stutes on Saturday.

Smikle’s uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time delivered him his 11th goal of the season, and his team-mates also have absorbed that ability when it comes to the play-offs.

With Mansfield, York, Luton, Kettering and Rushden and Diamonds all dropping points, Harriers were the weekend’s big winners as they closed the points gaps on the top five in the Blue Square Premier.

With Chester expelled from the league and any results against to be expunged set have an affect, Harriers look well-placed to make a late bid to gatecrash the end of season promotion party.

Saturday’s win was their eighth match unbeaten, seven of those under the tenure of new manager Steve Burr, who has been able to stoke up his player’' self-belief and get the best out of his squad.

Fittingly it was Smikle who got the ball rolling in the fourth minute when he managed to deflect Lee Baker’s sweeping pull-back beyond keeper Danny Naisbitt for his third strike in as many games.

Baker was eager to get forward and came close to adding a second and saw his shot take a wicked deflection off Erkan Okay, but somehow Naisbitt arched backwards to and tipped the ball onto the bar.

Smikle’s nickname should be changed from ‘Junior’ to ‘Accurist’ because of the alarming accuracy of his runs which out-foxed Histon’s plodding defence and the assistant referee in the first half.

He had his head in his hands when the linesman ruled out what seemed a legitimate goal in the 35th minute.

Robbie Matthews had done well to hold up the ball and play it out wide the Duane Courtney, who swept a raking low ball into the box, which the late-arriving midfielder slammed into the back of the net, only for flag to go up.

Moments later the linesman flagged wrongly again went up again after Smikle left Matt Langston for dead and incurred the wrath of the home fans, who then jeered ‘offside’ every time their team powered forward.

But any worries of dropping points were ended by two goals in the space of three minutes early in the second half.

Assistant manager John Finnigan doubled Harriers’ advantage in the 56th minute in spectacular fashion.

Histon’s defence failed to cut out Chris McPhee’s looping right-wing cross and the player/boss smashed an unstoppable volley beyond Naisbitt from 10-yards out.

Finnigan said: “The ball's gone out on the right hand side to Chris [McPhee] and it's been lofted over.

“I never expected it to reach me because it went so high and you normally expect a defender to get a head on it, but they didn’t and I swung a foot at in and it went into the back of the net.

“We’re playing a slightly different formation and Steve Burr has given me the licence to get more forward.”

Three minutes later the 33-year-old turned provider, winning the ball in midfield and skipping past two tackles, before slipping the ball Darryl Knights, who beat Histon’s keeper with a firm right-foot shot for his first league strike in 18 months and only his third for the club.

Harriers could have added more goals, with on-loan Port Vale hitman James Lawrie making his debut as a substitute and testing Naisbitt with a firm effort, before steering a decent another wide.

Captain McPhee almost topped an all-action second half display with a fine volley that was just a fraction too high.

Their opponents had rarely threatened throughout the game and when they did confident Harriers dealt with them.

Gavin Caines had to slide into block Okay's dangerous ball into the box and Derby shot-stopper Ross Atkins, making his home bow, smothered a downward far post header by Nathaniel Knight-Percival.

Martin Riley also won the ball off Danny Wright as he went to shoot in the box with a brilliant tackle.

But Histon wilted limply in the second half and Harriers recorded their 11th home win in the league, a record which matches high-flying York and Stevenage.

Harriers: Atkins 6; Courtney 6; Baker 7; FINNIGAN 9; Caines 6 (Sharpe, 66); Riley 6; Knights 6; Bennett 6; McPhee 7; Matthews 6 (Bignot, 86); Smikle 8 (Lawrie, 69). Unused substitutes: Singh; Goodfellow.

Histon: Naisbitt; Tann; Gwillim; Sheringham; Southam; Frew (Sparkes, 65); Knight-Percival; Wright (Oyebanjo, 65); Smith; Okay (Hudson-Odoi, 86). Unused substitutes: Tidswell; Knight.

Referee: Matthew (Bristow). Attendance: 1,293 (20)