Kidderminster Harriers one match from promotion

Kidderminster Harriers boss Adam Murray hailed the Aggborough support after they reached the National League North play-off final.

Harriers will make the long trip to South Shields on Saturday, May 9, for a 12.30pm kick-off after overcoming Macclesfield 3-1 in front of a crowd of 4,406.

Richard Faakye, Kieren Donnelly and Seb Thompson scored the goals that put Kidderminster in charge, before a stoppage-time consolation from the visitors.

And boss Murray said: “I’m standing there the last five minutes and I’m thinking ‘it’s the crowd that are keeping the ball out of the back of the net - there’s no way the ball is going in that net now’.

“If we concede a goal we could get a little bit nervous, but I’m just standing there thinking the support behind that goal in that period was just kicking the ball back up the pitch.

“The fans were outstanding and they have been for a long time now - and I’m just pleased we can give them a victory at home today.

“We’ll enjoy tonight, rest up tomorrow, but we’ve got another massive challenge ahead of us now to get the job done.”

Faakye stepped up to score his first Harriers goal at the most opportune moment, bundling the ball home following a series of corners.

Christian Dibble made an outstanding save on the stroke of half-time and Kidderminster went straight up the other end to double their lead through Donnelly’s calm finish.

Despite Macclesfield’s best efforts, it remained 2-0 for almost all of the second half before Thompson settled things with a cool finish in the final minute of normal time.

And though the visitors pulled one back, it was far too late as the Kidderminster fans were left to celebrate wildly.

Defeat for Gornal

However, Gornal Athletic will spend another season in Midland League Division One after going down 2-1 at home to Sutton United in Saturday’s play-off final that was overshadowed by a pitch invasion and violent scenes.

During the game, Gornal fell behind in the 27th minute - only for Traevey Wright to level matters midway through the second half.

However, Sutton struck a decisive blow six minutes into extra-time, condemning Gornal to another season of step six football - despite amassing more than 100 points in their regular campaign.