PHIL Brown admits his Kidderminster Harriers side came ‘back down to earth with a bump’ following a shock 1-0 home defeat against bottom side Rushall Olympic.
Harriers missed the chance to return to the top of the National League North table as Kian Ryley’s second-half strike left the visitors stunned at Aggborough.
The result leaves Kidderminster third in the table, two points off the top, and Brown wants his players to embrace the challenge ahead of them in the second half of the campaign.
Brown said: “There’s quite a few shock results in this league throughout the season, that’ll be up there with the best.
“That’s because people start believing they’re top of the league and they’re playing against somebody 20 places below you so you’ve got a divine right to win the game.
“Football has got an amazing ability and habit of kicking you right in the proverbials, after the great performance at Hereford, it was back down to earth with a bump.
“We can’t class ourselves as a good team at this moment in time, we might be a good footballing side but we can’t class ourselves as a good team if we don’t find a way in tight games.
“We have to understand what possession is all about, we played safe football, we played the safe pass because it was an easy pass.
“There’s an opportunity to get promoted, we’re in a good position, we’re in a good place, bring on the second half of the season, we’ve got good enough players to be successful.”
Harriers hit the post after just eight minutes when Amari Morgan-Smith beat the offside trap only to hit the post when one-on-one with Paul White.
The home side went close again later in the half as Tope Obadeyi headed Ashley Hemmings’ free-kick from the left wide at the back post.
However, Rushall stunned Brown’s men on 74 minutes when Ryley brought down a high ball and saw his low shot from the edge of the penalty area trickle into the bottom left corner.
Harriers almost drew level seven minutes from time only for Maz Kouhyar to turn Obadeyi’s ball in from the right inches past the post from five-yards out.
The shock defeat came after Kidderminster produced a scintillating performance to beat Hereford 3-0 at Edgar Street on Boxing Day.
Kidderminster are next in action against Slough Town in the FA Trophy on Saturday, January 4 with kick-off at 3pm at Aggborough.
