Harriers' promotion hopes took a blow with a defeat at resurgent Crawley after a poor performance that was not helped by the fact that they had to play 83 minutes with ten men.

Mark Creighton returned to the side after missing the last game through suspension but his return was short-lived as he was sent off after bringing down Jamie Cook as he raced clear of the defence.  I t was almost inevitable that it would be Martin Brittain who would be sacrificed as the defence was reorganised with Luke Jones coming on.

Crawley had already been enjoying the lion's share of the possession up until that point and with the extra man advantage they were able to keep Harriers pressed back in their own half for long periods.  Brian Smikle had been brought in to the defence in place of the injured Lee Baker, probably because his pace would be useful to try to combat Town's on-loan winger Michael Malcolm but even he struggled to keep up with the wide man. On 26 minutes Malcolm was allowed a clear run through the inside-right channel before slipping the ball to Simon Weatherstone on the opposite flank who fired wide across the face of goal.

Harriers held out until the half-hour mark before their defence was breached; the ball was played into the penalty area for Malcolm on the right who slid a low shot past Adam Bartlett into the far corner.  In stoppage time Malcolm got to the byline on the right and crossed to the near post where Lewis Killeen met the ball with a diving header that flew wide.

The second half was no better for Harriers; all afternoon they didn't trouble Simon Rayner in the home goal, they only managed one shot on target in total but Justin Richards' effort was blocked before it got anywhere near the keeper.  Early in the half a long ball through inside left set Malcolm clear, he cut inside but shot over the bar.

The dangerous Malcolm settled the game 20 minutes from the end with a free-kick from 20-yards out that beat the wall and flew into the top corner.  In the closing stages Crawley could have added to their lead; Thomas Pinault curled a shot wide from 25 yards out and Killeen saw his shot saved by Bartlett.

Despite the setback Harriers only dropped one place to fourth in the Conference although they are now ten points off leaders Burton Albion.