No Beardsley decision - yet
Kidderminster manager Mark Yates refuses to be drawn on the future of striker Chris Beardsley ahead of his loan spell ending in early January.
Kidderminster manager Mark Yates refuses to be drawn on the future of striker Chris Beardsley ahead of his loan spell ending in early January.
Beardsley has yet to start since returning to the club on a month's deal from Blue Square Premier rivals Kettering.
The initial thinking was that the former Mansfield man would replace top scorer Justin Richards, who was sidelined with an eye injury, only for the 14-goal hitman to return sooner than expected.
Beardsley has been limited to sub appearances ever since and, with Yates admitting this week that some of his fringe players may have to be sacrificed, his hopes of a permanent deal may be dashed.
The Harriers boss has already told Michael McGrath and Paul Bignot they can leave, in order to balance the books.
But Yates has made no decision so far on his loan striker.
He said: "Chris is here until the start of January and we will just have to see after that. We have a full set of strikers at the moment, so it is not easy to get a game.
"I have been pleased with his contribution. He has trained well and, although he hasn't started a game, he has done OK.
"When you have a pairing like Justin and Matthew doing the business, it is difficult to leave them out. It is plausible that Chris will get his chance over Christmas, at such a busy time.
"Whether he will stay with us when his loan ends, I don't know."
The need to balance the books further is probably due to the club committing to a two-and-a-half year deal with their England C midfielder Russell Penn this week.
Yates is hoping that he will able to tie up more of his star players over the next few months, although he doesn't expect it to happen straight away.
He said: "There are no others in the pipeline for new contract offers at this particular time, it is one step at a time at the moment. Like with Russell, we will deal with that when we are in a position to.
"Between myself, Russell and the club, we have been talking to him for a little while. With how busy the season has been so far, we have had to put it on the backburner a bit, so I am glad to have it sorted.
"I wanted to sort it out in the summer but we were not able to at this end, which is no reflection on Russell. I have been to see the chairman about a number of things and that was on my list."
