BOSS Neil MacFarlane has no doubts his Kidderminster players will hit back after their first defeat of the season.

Harriers tasted a competitive defeat for the first time under the new manager when falling 3-1 at Chester on Tuesday night.

The hosts netted in each half before Ed Williams halved the deficit when firing home from the penalty spot with just under 20 minutes left on the clock.

However, they couldn't find a leveller before Chester put the game out of sight in the final 10 minutes.

Despite the loss, the Reds remain in second place in National League North and MacFarlane is confident that his players will react in the right manner.

He said: "We went there with the attitude to win the game as we always do but our quality and decision making just wasn't what we needed to be.

"We were unbelievable on Saturday against York and that game was easily our best performance of the season, but we just didn't match that.

"You obviously don't want to lose games because we'd just got into that winning habit. But if you take stock after 10 games then it's clear our start has been very good.

"Everything is new this year but when things weren't going our way against Chester we still continued to do the right things, that was the pleasing part of the game for me.

"I'm convinced this group will react in the right way and we're looking forward to Saturday now so we can show that. Our challenge now is to just go and put another run together."

Harriers now turn their attention to this Saturday's FA Cup second qualifying round clash with underdogs Atherstone Town.

The boss is keen to avoid an upset when the side from Division One of the Midland Football League visit Aggborough (3pm kick-off).

"We want to get as far as we can in this competition," added MacFarlane. "That means making sure we don't take Atherstone lightly and making sure we also bounce back from the Chester defeat."

Meanwhile, midfielder Liam Truslove has left Harriers on a one-month loan spell.

The former Birmingham City youngster has yet to feature for the Reds this season and will link up with Rushall Olympic to get some much-needed game time.