Neil Howarth has said that the Harriers' squad can be proud of themselves after today's fine showing and victory at Rushden and Diamonds.

The team finally dug in and etched out a full 90-minute performance in Northamptonshire and got their rewards in the form of their second win of the season.

Following on from lesser performances against the likes of Grays and Stevenage, Assistant Manager Howarth admits there was a new and steelier determination about the players today.

He said: "All week since the Grays game and again since the Stevenage game the players have had a determination in their eyes that perhaps we haven't had since the start of the season when perhaps we should have so the lads can be proud of themselves today.

"We like to have a hard-working ethos that we didn't have against Grays and we had in patches against Aldershot, Stafford and Stevenage but that isn't good enough.

"But for the 90 minutes today we got in their faces and without being disrespectful to Rushden we ended up quite comfortable winners and could on another day have had another three or four more goals."

It gets no easier for Aggborough as Exeter City come to Aggborough this Saturday - Harriers have lost both their home games so far this season but looked to have 'clicked' at Rushden today.

Ahead of the game against the Grecians, Howarth warned that Harriers have now set their benchmark for the remainder of the campaign.

"They're going to be up there at the end of the season," Howarth said of Exeter.

"As I'm sure will be Rushden, Stevenage and Grays so we have had a tough start, but that's no excuse because we've underperformed massively.

"We know that and I'd like to think the team we had out today and the performance they put in is what our teams are about and not what they've put in so far this season."

250 of the most vocal supporters enjoyed the celebrations with the squad at the end of the game today and Howarth added: "They were brilliant all the way through the game, they were singing from the first minute until the last and it was nice to get a good reception from them."