On Line: pm

Walsall had the best of both halves, Merson had two chances early on, one courtesy of a good ball by Stefan Oakes, and another after some neat play with Steve Corica ended with a curling shot on goal. He forced the Kiddy keeper to make saves on each occasion, and  looked sharper than he had against the Cobblers on Saturday. 

Leitao also had two chances in the first half, his first came soon after Merson had forced Brock to make his second save, and he went close after a great Corica cross. His second chance was created by Paul Merson, who sent him though on goal, but Leitao hit the ball wide - He will need to take chances like that when the season starts. 

Chances for Kiddy were rare, Kyle Lightbourne still looks lazy, and it was Matt Lewis who who looked the better of the Kiddy forwards. His only real effort on goal was a weak effort from outside the penalty area.  

We played some nice football in the first half and kept it tidy. Merson played some good one touch football, but Leitao's finishing has to improve.  Corica looked like his his old self, while Mark Wright looked sharp out wide. You cannot not help but feel that with some more stamina he could make a real impact in the first team.

If we had taken our chances, it could have been over by half time.

Half Time - Harriers 0-0 Saddlers

The Saddlers only made 1 change at half time - Birch for Leitao. We could have taken the lead 5 minutes in to the half, when some sloppy defending from Kiddy saw the ball fall to Corica, who took to long on the ball and saw his shot deflect of a Kiddy defender.

Gary Birch got the games first goal after being set up by Steve Corica, It was a neat move involving Paul Merson, showing that we can move the ball around quickly and create chances.

Colin Lee changed it around with Walker being replaced by Kerr, Wright by Hawley, Lawrence by Wrack, Merson by Matias, Samways by Zigor and Corica by Fryatt, and this broke up the play during the second half.

Brock had a busy second half with Matias, Hawley and Wrack all going close before Birch made it 2-0 thanks to a great ball from Darren Bazeley left him with only the keeper to beat.

Kiddy had a couple of good chances inside the last 15 minutes, but Aaron Kerr was up to the challenge, and looks decent enough to deputise for Jim. 

The number of subs coming on and off meant the game never really got going in the second half. Birch took his chances well, but needs to up his work rate if he wants to play in the First Division. He still tends to drift in and out of the game. 

Half Time - Harriers 0-2 Saddlers