KIDDERMINSTER boss Phil Brown described Ashley Hemmings as a ‘natural born talent’ after the Harriers forward’s second hat-trick in seven days.
Hemmings claimed the match ball again, a week after putting three goals past South Shields.
This time, Needham Market were on the receiving end as Harriers maintained their National League North promotion push with a 4-1 win at Aggborough in front of 3,200 fans.
Hemmings opened the scoring after 32 minutes and then added a second just after the hour mark.
Maz Kouhyar scored for the second successive game with 19 minutes left before Seth Chambers pulled one back.
But Hemmings brought his total for the season to 26 deep into stoppage time.
Boss Brown told the club’s official YouTube channel: “Ashley Hemmings is putting down a massive statement down to everybody at this club, the clubs that he’s playing against and into this league in particular.
“He’s a damn good player, and someone that we need to bring out every so often and let him go and do what he does.
“His run’s brilliant – really good.
“I don’t think he even looks at the facts and the figures are thrown his way from a statistics point of view.
“He just gets on with it. He seems to brush it all down and get on with his game. He’s such a natural-born talent.
“So we’ve got three of them up front with something different to offer and ask questions of defenders, and that’s all you want for your strike force.”
Brown admitted this was a different intensity to Tuesday’s win over league leaders Scunthorpe.
[90+5] HARRIERS 4-1 Needham
Brilliant from Dibble who clears long because he sees Hemmings in space. He takes the ball and shoots – it’s saved, but the effort is too strong and it rolls home for ANOTHER HEMMO HAT-TRICK!#Harriers 🦅 pic.twitter.com/TtrIBzcyeu
— Kidderminster Harriers 🦅 (@khfcofficial) March 22, 2025
He added: “Last year when we were in a relegation battle it was a horrible place to be. But the lesson that you learn is, do it properly, and you’ll never be involved in that.
“Do it properly as a group and do the basics, right?
“But there’s one or two players that have come in brand new to the changing room.
“I need people to contribute between now and the end of the season. But it wasn’t the same tempo as Tuesday night. It wasn’t the same level of performance as Tuesday night, but I suppose the only shock we got was when we conceded a goal and there were what 15 minutes to go. Did they have enough? I don’t think they did.”
The result leaves Harriers in third spot, five points behind leaders Scunthorpe with a game in hand.
