Harriers' cup hopes were ended for another season after a lacklustre performance at Haig Avenue saw them crash out and miss out on a much-needed injection of cash.

Unchanged from the side that beat Darlington in midweek, with Dan Lewis keeping his place in goal, Harriers could justifiably have expected to carry on where they left off in the previous match.  The performance, however, was flat and lifeless, in fact so was the whole game despite it being one of the most crucial stages of the FA Cup and with a lot at stake.

Harriers dominated possession for much of the game and created the first decent goalscoring chance midway through the first half; Terry Fleming slid a pass through the inside-left channel for Iyseden Christie who shot wide when he had time to do better.  When Harriers did break down the home defence they found and in-form Steve Dickinson in front of them and he denied both Simon Heslop and Simon Russell.

Early in the second half Harriers had some good chances that were wasted.  Heslop was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by Carl Baker but Gareth Sheldon took the free-kick quickly and hit it straight against the wall.  Simon Russell twice and Wayne Hatswell could have opened the scoring in the opening stages of the half but all three efforts lacked conviction and were weak and easy saves for Dickinson to make.

At the other end Southport eventually came to life and Lewis was called into action on the hour; a deep cross from the left was met by Steve Daly whose diving header Lewis did well to claw away.  Minutes later Kevin Leadbetter curled a shot from the right just wide of the far post and then Daly jinked his way into the Harriers penalty area before shooting high and wide.

As the home team built up a head of steam they broke the deadlock on 69 minutes; substitute Matty McGinn got to the byline on the left and chipped the ball to the far post where Chris Lane lashed his shot across Lewis and into the far corner.

McGinn created another chance with a cross from the right that found Earl Davis who saw his header blocked in a crowded penalty area.  As time ran out Lane could have doubled his tally but saw his shot beaten away by Lewis.  In stoppage time Gavin Hurren got forward on the right and when his cross was only half cleared Russell fired Harriers' last chance wide.