Harriers began their Conference campaign with a goalless draw at Sincil Bank.

For the third season in a row Harriers failed to score at Sincil Bank but that record would have fallen had it not been for an excellent save by City keeper Nick Townsend to deny Craig Reid.

Gary Whild handed debuts to four players in the starting line-up: Jared Hodgkiss, Kevin Nicholson, Reid, and Ahmed Obeng while Reece Styche made his first appearance later on as a substitute.

City made the livelier start of the two teams, but they were aided by a stiff breeze at their backs.  Midfielder Hamza Bencherif should have given The Imps the lead after 16 minutes rising well at the far post to meet Sean Newton's deep cross from the left but headed over the bar.

After 24 minutes Bencherif went close again; Marcus Marshall made a good run into the penalty area on the right, forcing the Harriers defence to stand off to avoid conceding a penalty, before crossing to the far post to Bencherif who saw his header cleared off the line by former Imp Josh Gowling.

At the other end Harriers finally tested Townsend with Reid seeing his shot out-of-the-blue from the inside-right position pushed away for a corner.

All of Harriers' best chances were falling to Reid; in the first minute of the second half Nathan Blissett, who was a handful for the City defence all afternoon, set him up but he blasted his shot over the bar.  Six minutes later the same two combined, Blissett heading down to Reid who spotted Townsend off his line and hit a dipping shot from 30 yards or more that the keeper did well to get back to tip over the bar for a corner, his game-saving stop.

With fifteen minutes remaining Blissett got up well at the far post to meet Nicholson's right-wing corner but headed narrowly over the bar, his last action of the game before being replaced by Styche.  Five minutes from time Styche had a golden opportunity to win the game; Michael Gash's through ball created the opening for him but he curled his shot high and wide.