MARK YATES declared himself 'absolutely delighted' with his Kidderminster Harriers side after they secured their place in Sunday's Second Round FA Cup draw with a 1-0 win over Cambridge.

Justin Richard's first-half penalty was the only goal of the game as Harriers downed their fellow Blue Square Premier hopefuls at Aggborough.

Both sides had chances in the second half to add to the 1-0 score line with the game end-to-end throughout, home shot-stopper Adam Bartlett in particularly fine form.

"It was a fantastic game of football - both sides really went for it," said Yates, after the game.

"I thought we thoroughly deserved our win - they had a couple of chances late on, good ones, but we defended superbly and limited a very good side to a few chances.

"Barts has made a couple of saves when we needed him to but their goalkeeper has made a number of good saves as well to keep them in the game.

"I thought we were outstanding - we did a bit of work this week on how Cambridge play and what we were going to do to try and stop that and the lads did it perfectly well.

"We have a clean sheet as well and they really deserve that. We didn't get that second one to kill them off when we had plenty of chances, but I was filling up on the side with the work rate, commitment and the effort they were putting in.

"I'm absolutely delighted."

Earlier in the day, Yates was forced to make an early change in midfield with Dean Bennett replacing a frustrated Russell Penn.

Already booked for one rash challenge, Penn was walking a tightrope on the half-hour mark when he was replaced, and reacted angrily to his withdrawal.

Yates revealed after the final whistle that the midfielder had offered apologises for his petulance, but warned that his decisions will only ever be based on the interests of the team.

"It's not a big thing - it's gone now," added the Aggborough boss.

"He's just got to understand - and he does, it was just a bit in the heat of the moment and a bit of frustration - he was going [to get sent off] with one more foul - the referee had said.

"I wasn't going to take a chance to play for 60 minutes with ten men against a very good side.

"I'll make decisions for the best of the football club and not certain individuals.

"I understand Russ' frustrations but I made the decision for the good of the team, and Russ is fine in the dressing room."

Harriers now face tricky league games against Rushden & Diamonds (Sat 15), Wrexham (Sat 22), and Oxford United (now Tue 25) before taking on opposition to be revealed in the Second Round of the FA Cup on Saturday 29th November.

Having strutted their stuff and proved their credentials today, Yates has called on his players to build on this performance to help build even further on their current league position and form.

"Bar not getting the second goal, that's what we're about today," he continued.

"We're about playing great football at a good tempo, getting the ball to strikers and wide players and midfielders who can cause teams hell.

"Ask Wayne Hatswell and Phil Bolland if they enjoyed playing against our two centre forwards - I can tell you what they're going to say.

"We've got to now use this Cup tie to kick on in the league."