Bristol Rovers 1 Kidderminster 2

Last updated : 28 September 2002 By Footymad Previewer

Unbeaten now in eight games, Kidderminster registered their second away win with a 2-1 victory at Bristol Rovers.

They were always too accurate for Rovers but still had to strike back after John Melligan's first-half goal had been cancelled by Paul Tait's header on 74 minutes.

Rovers slashed admission prices to £5 and were rewarded with a bumper gate of 9,447, nearly 4,000 up on their average.

Having won back support they then found themselves quickly chasing the game as the Harriers out-paced them for commitment and accuracy.

Early chances for Bo Henriksen and Melligan signalled the unease in Rovers defence. Their passes out of trouble were always ambitious and keeper Scott Howie's deadball kicking was disastrous.

Rovers top scorer Giuliano Grazioli hit a smart shot on the turn to win a corner and Wayne Carlisle grazed the bar with a 20 yard free-kick.

For the rest of the first half though Harriers called the shots and full deserved to go ahead at the start of the 28th minute.

A bad mistake by the Latvian International Vitalijs Astafjevs in the Rovers box saw Melligan volley past the helpless Howie from 12 yards.

It was enough to bring Rovers' grey-suited manager Ray Graydon on to the bench for the second half.

Astafjevs almost made up for his fatal error with a sharp volley only to waste the resulting corner before Kidderminster got well back on top again.

Their 383 travelling fans sensed a second away win as Melligan, Sean Flynn and Dean Bennett ran things for them.

They had one anxious moment as their centre-back Craig Hinton had to slide into a decisive tackle to deny Rovers sub Mark McKeever.

Rovers soon had all three subs on and briefly drew level when Tait stooped to head in a 74th minute left-wing corner.

It was the fourth home game in which he had scored but inside a minute the Harriers were back in front.

Sam Shilton's cross from the left took a deflection and Henriksen was there with a header from inside the six-yard box to wrap up the points