Harriers targer improvement
Kidderminster Harriers boss Mark Yates has warned his side that they need to improve over the festive period if they are keep their play-off hopes alive.
Kidderminster Harriers boss Mark Yates has warned his side that they need to improve over the festive period if they are keep their play-off hopes alive.
The Harriers have endured an up and down campaign so far, which has seen them record victories against some of the division's best teams combined with losses against sides placed below them in the league.
"The Christmas period is a busy time," Yates said. "It's a time when we need some wins. We play Forest Green twice over the Christmas period – once on Boxing Day and then again on New Year's Day and in between that we're away at Oxford, so yes a marked improvement is needed if we're to stay in contention for the play-offs."
"We've been inconsistent but we need to keep believing. The play-offs are the target - yes, but we've got to do better than we have been."
The Harriers have been out of action since the televised victory over Cambridge on December 6 and Yates believes that lack of match practice may have led to a below par performance against Guiseley in the first round of the FA Trophy on Tuesday night.
"We were not at our best," Yates admitted. "But the result was all important. We've been out of action for a while and they scored within two minutes, but the lads stuck at it and we progressed and that was the main thing."
"We haven't had a game since we played Cambridge and with the weather being so bad it's been difficult to get any training into the players because of the hard pitches. They were perhaps a bit rusty but I'm not too worried about that."
The victory over Guiseley means that Harriers will now take on Weymouth in the second round on January 12. The trip to the Wessex Stadium will present the opportunity for Kidderminster to avenge a 2-0 league defeat inflicted upon them by Weymouth at Aggborough in October.
Yates has been boosted by the news that ex-Blues defender Jeff Kenna is ready to return to first team action following three months out with a hernia problem.
"Jeff's going to have a reserve game and see how that goes," Yates said. "He was set to come back a few weeks ago, but he had a reaction and so we've had to sit and suffer and wait for it to sort itself out."
