Darlington 1 Kidderminster Harriers 0

Rivers 40 mins, 1-0

Attendance 1254

Jarrett Rivers' goal five minutes before the break gave Quakers their sixth successive win and lifted them to 11th in the table.

Quakers deserved to lead at half time after creating some good chances, and the second half was fairly even, but Quakers had keeper Liam Connell to thank for a superb one-handed save right at the end.

Connell's loan spell has one game to go -- Saturday's game against Hereford -- and in the meantime Quakers are hoping to agree another loan deal with South Shields.

Kiddie forced a corner in the first minute, but after the ball was initially cleared, Connell managed to catch the ball under pressure.

Quakers replied with a good run down the right through Jarrett Rivers, who got into the box and fired across the face of goal and just past the post.

On 6 minutes, the ball was switched from right to left for Adam Campbell to run inside and hit a right foot shot just over the bar from the edge of the area.

Ben Hedley then picked the ball up in the halfway line, and from 30 yards hit a powerful right foot shot that Kidderminster keeper Cameron Gregory just managed to tip over the bar.

Wheatley then won the ball in midfield and set Hedley up again in a more central position, but this time he fired over the top.

And on 16 minutes, O’Neill picked the ball up on the edge of the box, turned quickly, and fired wide of the post.

The best chance so far came on 20 minutes when Rivers left two defenders in his wake on the right, found O’Neill who pulled the ball back for Campbell to have a shot blocked.

The game was fairly even after that, until Quakers took the lead on 40 minutes when O’Neill nodded a Ben Hedley free kick down for Holness to his right, and he cleverly flicked the ball on for Rivers to run through and slot the ball into the bottom corner for his second goal of the season.

Half time

Darlington 1 Kidderminster 0

There was a chance for 2-0 on 50 minutes when Campbell charged down a clearance by Gregory, but he couldn’t quite turn the ball home, with Quakers appealing for a foul by the keeper.

Kiddie nearly levelled when Hemmings found space 25 yards out on the right, turned and struck a low shot that Connell held well on the line.

Stephen Thompson came on as sub on 70 minutes, and with his first touch he struck a 30 yarder that went just wide.

Some slack defending though let Hemmings win possession on the edge of the box, but five defenders quickly got back to cover, and Hemmings eventual shot lacked power and was saved by Connell.

It was nearly 2-0 when Thompson got into the box on the right, crossed to the far post, where Donawa’s header hit a defender a couple of yards out, and was saved.

Connell pulled off a superb one handed save on 89 minutes to protect the win. The ball came over from the right, sub Shenton came steaming in at the far post and his effort was going into the top right corner, until Connell somehow managed to claw the ball away and over the bar with an outstretched left arm to the loud cheers of the fans.

Team: Connell, Hedley, Liddle, Wheatley, Storey, Galbraith, Rivers, Hatfield, Campbell (sub Laing 88), Holness (sub Thompson 70), O’Neill (sub Donawa 81)

Subs: Watson, Bascome

Kidderminster

Gregory, Austin, Davidson, R Williams (sub E Williams 43), Moyo, Johnson, Weeks, Butterfield, Chambers (sub Shenton 74) , Hemmings, Peniket (sub Diau 82),

Subs: Palmer, Prosser,  

Attendance 1254