Cup run has been vital - Norgrove

Kidderminster have already won three FA Cup games to reach the third round

Kidderminster Harriers chairman Barry Norgrove has revealed the club's FA Cup run has been vital to their financial survival this season.

Norgrove told BBC Hereford and Worcester an early cup exit could have had devastating effects.

"Everybody's in the same boat, but nobody more than myself as I am a house builder and the industry is flat.

"Without this FA Cup run I would have been struggling to keep the club afloat," admitted Norgrove.

While they are in no way underestimating the scale of the challenge facing them in the third round, Harriers head to Championship club Coventry City quietly confident that they are capable of causing a shock.

The men from Aggborough are third in the Blue Square Premier and Norgrove is not ruling out the possibility of the current group of players writing another chapter in the club's FA Cup history.

"It would be nice to win it," he said, "or even get a draw and get them back to Kidderminster.

"We might be on the television then which would all help, but without the FA Cup financially we would be struggling."

Harriers opened their Cup campaign with a thumping 5-1 win at Blue Square South club Kings Lynn, before beating fellow Blue Square Premier club Cambridge United 1-0 at Aggborough in the first round proper.

The FA Cup run has been absolutely brilliant and it has been a Godsend to us

Kidderminster Harriers chairman Barry Norgrove

Unibond League club Curzon Ashton provided the opposition at Aggborough in round two. But Harriers booked their trip to the Ricoh Arena with a professional 2-0 victory over their spirited opponents, who played much of the game with only 10 players following an early red card.

Norgrove says Harriers three-match winning run in this year's competition has been a real boost as the prize money has helped offset the growing costs incurred in running a Blue Square Premier club.

"It's been absolutely brilliant and it has been a Godsend to us because everybody is in the same financial problems at the moment," he said. "So the longer we can stay in the FA Cup the more prize money we would get."