Harriers' hopes of picking up some silverware were ended for another season after a disappointing home defeat against old rivals Rushden & Diamonds sent them crashing out of the Setanta Shield.

As expected Mark Yates made a number of changes from the side that had been beaten by Salisbury at the weekend.  In came Paul Bignot, Matt Barnes-Homer and Michael McGrath, with Matt Bailey and Iyseden Christie dropping down to the bench and Alex Jeannin cup-tied.

Harriers started the game quite brightly with the wind at their backs an knocked the ball around well.  After just seven minutes Barnes-Homer's pass through the inside-right channel set Darryl Knights free; he broke into the penalty area but let a good shooting opportunity go by and instead pulled the back behind McGrath and Barnes-Homer's follow-up shot was blocked.

Against the run of play Rushden took the lead midway through the half; David Brown was allowed to run through on the left, Harriers yet again waiting for an offside flag that didn't come, and he was able to knock the ball past Chris MacKenzie for Jon Challinor to tap in.  Shortly afterwards Harriers should have had a penalty; McGrath's pass sent Andy Ferrell into the penalty area, his shot was handled but both the referee and his assistant were unsighted and Harriers were only awarded a corner.

Eight minutes before the break the visitors doubled their advantage.  Andy Gooding's 20-yard free kick curled over the wall and into the top corner of the net.  In stoppage time Knights went close again for Harriers, shooting over the bar from a narrow angle.

At the interval Harriers made a double substitution bringing on Christie and Russell for McGrath and the ineffective Dean Bennett and briefly sparked themselves back into life.  Harriers' revival was short-lived, however, and Rushden soon began to take control of the game.  Eight minutes into the half Andy Burgess stung MacKenzie's palms with a 25-yard shot that the keeper had to grab at the second attempt.

Harriers were given a lifeline with 18 minutes remaining, Christie picked out Russell on the right and he drilled a blistering shot past Dale Roberts in the diamonds goal, his third goal of the season.  Hopes of a comeback were extinguished shortly afterwards, however;  Marcus Kelly made a surging run from midfield, beating both Jeff Kenna and Mark Creighton, before hitting a shot from the edge of the penalty area that MacKenzie could only parry.  Harriers failed to clear the loose ball and it was worked out to Challinor on the left who curled a sublime shot past MacKenzie into the top corner of the net to round off a good night's work for Rushden.