Harriers begin punishing slog

The Blue Square Premier side face a staggering SIX games over that period - four of those away - that will no doubt have a significant bearing on where the play-off contenders will be headed come the end of the season on April 26.

The Harriers road trip begins tonight with a trip to Surrey to play Woking, a fixture that has already been played and abandoned after an hour because of a waterlogged pitch on March 3.

For away fans headed to the Kingfield Stadium, they have roughly a 260-mile round trip to look forward to - and the game doesn't start until 7:45pm.

There is - at least - a home game with Stevenage on Saturday but if you thought that this week was tough, next week will make it seem like a pleasant memory.

Harriers have THREE away games in a week, starting with a relatively short 120-mile round trip to Nailsworth to play Forest Green next Tuesday night - a fixture originally planned for New Years Day, then postponed due to the Aggborough club's involvement in the FA Cup.

Just 48 hours later, Mark Yates' side face a near 350-mile round trip to play Ebbsfleet, a game that was most recently postponed due to the Fleet's involvement in the Setanta Shield - no fault of their visitors.

The mammoth away schedule ends with a 160-mile trip to Greater Manchester to play Altrincham on Saturday week but even then there will only be 48 hours to rest - league leaders Burton come to Aggborough on Easter Monday for another pivotal clash.

For the manager, it's unjust - but there's nothing he can do about it.

He said: "I have had my moan about it and I have tried to get the league to see logic about it, but nothing seems to have worked. My argument is that we are playing nearly a ninth of our season in 10 days, it's just not on.

"It's a tough schedule, but there's nothing we can do about it. Now the decision is made, we have just got on with it."

The real bug-bare for Yates is the three away games next week, a significant toll on the players at a vital period of their season.

The league wouldn't even let Harriers shift the Burton game - which only infuriated the Aggborough boss further.

He said: "Next week is really going to be hard. Three away games in a week is poor planning by the powers that be, and we are the ones that are going to suffer as a result.

"I asked if we could move the Burton game and I was told we would gain an unfair advantage. I don't know how, because we were actually asking for less time to recover, but thats what was said.

"They made their minds up and told me it was on the pools coupon - but I think that is just an excuse."

Despite the hindrances facing his side, Yates will refuse to take the punishing schedule as an excuse for poor performances.

He just wants his side to triumph in the face of adversity.

He added: "This is the last I will talk about it, we can't do anything about it and it's here now anyway. I won't use it as an excuse - and I won't let my players use it as an excuse either.

"We are professional people who have been put in a bad situation, thats the truth of the matter but it won't change anything."