Russ Penn praises 'passion' of Kidderminster in Hartlepool United draw

Penn feared the worst for his Harriers side when Tom Crawford’s low cross was turned into his own net by Reiss McNally before Kidderminster found a route back into the game through Amari Morgan-Smith’s header.

The National League’s bottom side proved a stubborn test for John Askey's men who were unable to find a second breakthrough despite creating a number of opportunities.

The draw kept Kidderminster bottom of the table by six points but left Penn encouraged having held their own against what he described as ‘a good’ Hartlepool team at Aggborough.

"There’s positives for us today. They’ve shown a bit of pride and passion and a little bit of quality,” said Penn.

"We created enough chances to possibly win the game – I’m sure their manager will probably be saying the same. Both goalkeepers made some good saves.

"I think it was a good game, we had to defend well against a good Hartlepool team who have just come out of the Football League, let’s have a bit of reality on that, and I think we gave them a good game.

"Fair play to the lads, after a tough 15 minutes where we were getting picked off all over the place, we flipped our shape a little bit and I thought Jack Lambert for 50 minutes was excellent until he tired off – one of many who had a strong game.”