Boss Pemberton demands more to help Harriers break a losing habit

Pemberton’s reign has not got off to the best of starts, with a 2-0 loss to AFC Telford United on Tuesday night coming after a 2-2 draw with Leamington last weekend.

Tomorrow’s trip to Bradford Park Avenue, who have sacked manager Garry Thompson after successive 5-0 losses, offers them a good chance to register their first win of the National League North season though.

Going into it, Pemberton is looking for a lot more than what he saw from his charges at Telford.

“We’re quite inexperienced, but there are one or two players that I expect more from; they know the league and have played quite a few games,” he said.

“You want them to step up to the plate, and the second goal (at Telford) killed us – we never recovered from that.

“So we’ve got worked to do, but we’ll get better, we’ll definitely get better. I know we will.

“Some of them, unfortunately, are used to losing and it is difficult to get out of that mentality.”

Harriers fell to goals from former midfielder Darryl Knights and Aaron Williams, either side of the break, against the Bucks.

“I was disappointed with the second-half performance – I thought it was weak, I thought it showed the frailties in what we’ve got,” added Pemberton.

“It highlighted the position in which we are at the moment with regards to what we’ve got player wise, and strength in-depth.

“The second-half performance wasn’t good enough, it’s as simple as that.”

Stafford Rangers are having their final pre-season friendly tomorrow, before the Northern Premier campaign starts next weekend. They are making the short journey to Newcastle Town (3pm).

Halesowen Town and Chasetown are taking each other on in a friendly too (3pm) at the Scholars Ground.