Oxford City were well beaten at Kidderminster this afternoon as the impressive home side underlined their promotion credentials with a comfortable 4-0 win.

First half goals  from Ben Beresford, captain Ashley Hemmings and Maz Kouyhar opened up a gap that City never looked like closing, especially after a red card for defender Cole Kpekawa immediately after half time. A late free kick from Seb Thompson then condemned City to a second defeat of a frustrating Bank Holiday.

City, all in green, actually started brightly with Aidan Elliott-Wheeler prominent down the right and Zac McEachran drifting in from the left to pick holes in the Harriers defence meaning that they were well in the game until the opener.

One Elliott-Wheeler flick after fifteen minutes lit the game up and allowed Andre Burley to have the first shot of the game, blocked from just inside the area, but that was to be City's only effort on goal all game as Harriers hit their stride.

The first save came at the other end three minutes later when Kai McKenzie Lyle tipped a Hemmings effort over the bar.

That was a warning sign and soon after City had undone that solid start by conceding two goals. The first came on 22 minutes when a free kick from the left was allowed to travel all the way to the back post with McKenzie-Lyle clattering Reece Fleet in the melee as Paul Downing flicked on. Beresford had to time to control and stroke the ball into the empty net to give Harriers an early lead.

Five minutes later and it was 2-0 when Harriers recycled the ball and Kouhyar crossed for Hemmings to double their advantage with a well-placed header from 12 yards out.

To their credit City battled hard at 2-0 down but two minutes into added time the game was effectively dead when McKenzie-Lyle and Kouhyar went in to a block tackle 20 yards from goal and the ball flew past the stranded keeper and into the unguarded net to make it 3-0 

The second half got even tougher after eight minutes when centre-half Kpekawa hauled sub Thompson down and left City to play for much of the half with ten men- Kpekewa sent off at Aggborough for the second season in a row,

The remaining players dug deep and defended well, McKenzie -Lyle making a couple of good saves when the home side did threaten, but by that stage Harriers had no reason to throw men forward or over exert themselves; the three points were safe and Thompson's swerving, dipping free kick in the closing stages merely confirmed Kidderminster's dominance.

No excuses, the better side won on the day and City can have few complaints. It's been a tough start to the season, time to start turning pre-season promise into points.

CITY

McKenzie-Lyle, Burley (Stretton 77), Ashby, Jones, Kpekawa, Coyle, Fleet (Siddick 64), McEachran (Potter 56), Parker (Andrews 53), Elliott-Wheeler (Carbon 60), Roddy

Att 2546 Away: 42

Report by Chris Williams, pictures Simon Godfrey