GOLDEN BROWN BACK AT THE TOP

PHIL Brown gave his Kidderminster Harriers players Christmas off – and was rewarded with a climb to the top of the tree.

- Jon Couch

The 65-year-old steered his side to an impressive 3-0 derby win at Hereford in front of an club record Edgar Street crowd of 4,925.

And it was enough to take Harriers to the top of the National League North table following Curzon Ashton’s shock home defeat by Farsley Celtic.

Brown revealed he has traditionally adopted a slightly different philosophy to managing his players through the Christmas period and lavished praise on his inform Harriers for their response.

“The sacrifices professional footballers make over the Christmas period, it’s sometimes an unreasonable ask for them,” the former Derby County and Hull City boss said after a fifth straight win.

“I’ve never done that, right from my days as coach at Blackpool, and the reason I don’t do that is because time with your families is as important as time on the training ground.

“We did our work on Christmas Eve and I’ve got to take my hat off to the players, they’ve listened and taken on board everything we’ve said.

“When you come to places like this, in front of a full house, and the home side change their system, it’s normally a sign that you are doing something right, and I think we are at the moment.”

Harriers were on the front foot from the off in this lunchtime kick-off and took the lead on just eight minutes courtesy of Zak Brown’s fine strike.