Harriers' charge towards safety was brought to a shuddering halt by three second half goals from visiting Mansfield after the home team had been cruising at 1-0 up going into the break.

A typical game of two halves saw Harriers, showing Tom Bennett in for the suspended Lee Jenkins as the only change from the side that won at Darlington at the weekend, dominate the first half but come to regret missed opportunities and then indiscipline after the break saw them hand the advantage to the visitors.

A dour first half started brightly, John McGrath flashed a shot across the Town goal in the first minute and soon afterwards the Harriers defence was caught out by a long ball over the top, former Harrier Simon Brown raced clear but fired his shot straight at John Danby in the Harriers goal.  The game soon became scrappy; perhaps the pressure of knowing that they could climb out of the relegation zone with a victory got to the home team and affected their performance.  It was not until four minutes before the interval, when Harriers took the lead, that the match came back to life.  Bennett intercepted a pass in midfield and carried the ball forward before sliding a pass into the path of Mark Rawle on the left who lashed a shot into the top corner of the net for his second goal in as many games.

With the home support still celebrating the goal, Harriers had the opportunity to take complete control of the game; chasing a long ball Chris Beardsley was brought down by Mansfield keeper Kevin Pilkington, winning a penalty. Dean Keates stepped forward to take the kick and even though he sent Pilkington the wrong way he screwed his shot horribly wide of the keeper's left-hand post.  In stoppage time there was a scare for the home team when Richie Barker flicked on a right-wing throw to Brown who shot wide of the near post.

After the break the game came to life; a mistake by Pilkington let in Beardsley, his cross was half cleared but his second attempt found Bertrand Cozic who headed straight at the keeper.  Moments later Harriers began to fall apart; chasing another long ball Beardsley clashed with Pilkington which sparked a minor contretemps, Beardsley fired up against one of hid former clubs.  From the free kick Mansfield switched play quickly to the other end, Barker beat the offside trap and rifled a low shot inside the near post.  Three minutes later another quick attack gave Mansfield the lead; Brown taking the ball round Danby and rolling it into the empty net.  There was almost a third goal in six minutes for Mansfield; Brown got away on the right and crossed low to the near post where sub Andrew Barrowman, on loan from Birmingham, chipped it over Danby but Simon Weaver was on the line to clear.

Harriers tried to get back into the game; Jackson had a header blocked and when the ball was played back into the danger area Alex John-Baptiste made a crucial last ditch tackle to deny Iyseden Christie.  A Weaver pass through the inside-right channel was dummied by Christie but just evaded the run of Keates into the penalty area.  McGrath also went close with a 25-yard volley that went narrowly wide of Pilkington's right-hand post.

As Harriers' attempts became more frantic they finally had the ball in the net; a high ball into the penalty area was dropped by Pilkington under pressure from Beardsley and Christie turned it in from close range but the goal was ruled out because Beardsley had used his hand to knock the ball away from the keeper.  At the death Jackson needlessly handled the ball near the corner flag and from the resultant free kick Adam Rundle floated the ball to the far post where Barker rose unchallenged to head in the third, and final, goal.