HARRIERS fell to a 3-0 defeat at Grays Athletic on Tuesday night - equal to the team's biggest defeat of the season. It means the side have now won just twice in their last 11 matches. Jonny Harkness' red card also rules him out of the FA Trophy Final.

Harriers' seem to be pounding the self-destruct button their Conference season with recent results and performances, Mark Yates' public lashing after Saturday's defeat to Morecambe did little to shift the players' mindset that still seems firmly fixed on Wembley Stadium.

Tragically, though, Harkness is one player who will face an agonising day on the sidelines come Final time - this straight red - his second sending off in consecutive match means he's definitely ruled out of the occasion.  Grays took a massive step to securing their Conference status for another season with this convincing win - it was perhaps harsh on the likes of Steve Taylor and Michael McGrath - both in for rare starts due to suspension and injury respectively, it's perhaps no coincidence that they shone whilst too many were anonymous at times.

A Stuart Thurgood penalty gave the hosts the lead after James Constable had been adjudged to have fouled Simon Downer - the spot-kick was dispatched with relative ease past Taylor.
Harkness was shown a straight red after an apparent elbow on Andy Sambrook - the referee was quick enough to brandish the card, and with his previous sending off against Aldershot Harkness could miss up to four games - including the Trophy Final and the first two games of next season.

Downer added a second after a well-worked move from the hosts doubled the score - the players weren't even allowed a half-time team talk and had a 15 minute work-out on the pitch instead. It didn't make too much of a difference; there was a little more interest but no real end product. Luke Reynolds, Gary Hay and Jon Brady all were brought into the action to try and get something back but to no avail.

Reynolds had Harriers best chance late on but the home goalkeeper was not to be beaten - Steve Taylor at the other end had put in some excellent saves but could do nothing when John Martin drew him out and squared the ball to Leroy Griffiths to tap home the final goal of the night.

Grays: Knowles, Sambrook, Stuart, Downer (Barness 85), Tonkin, Nicholls, Thurgood, Martin, Oli (Griffiths 63), O'Connor, Bodkin (Rhodes 76). Not Used: Bayes, Harding.

Harriers: Taylor, Kenna, Whitehead, Creighton, Harkness, Russell, Sedgemore, McGrath (Hay 75), Constable (Brady 46), Christie (Reynolds 62), Blackwood.

Attendance: 846.