Or just too early to write off?  Floundering in mid-table or handily placed to make a run at the play-offs?

There’s 20 games still to play and we’re only eight points off the play-off positions, still in the FA Trophy and still in the Setanta Shield and it’s still early January.  However, many people are of the opinion that the season is over already and the best we can hope for is mid-table mediocrity.

Personally, I’m a bit undecided on the matter - on the one hand we have plenty to play for but on the other I can see totally where some are coming from.  On the face of it we have a decent squad, even if it is too small, with fringe players that are better than the fringe players we had last season, but they are far too inconsistent.  There have been times this season, Exeter and York at home and Forest Green and York away spring to mind, when we’ve played some really good stuff and looked capable of matching most teams in the division.  But, just when you think they’re going to get it together, they pull out performances like the ones at Farsley, Guiseley and Altrincham where they play like dustbins and look barely capable of staying in the league (I know the Guiseley game was a cup tie, but the performance was still dreadful).

Seven times this season Harriers have taken the lead in a game and failed to win.  The ability to finish off a game is proving to be one of the biggest problems they have; six of those seven games were in the Conference - five draws and a defeat - and have cost the side 13 points.  Had those leads been held onto, there would now be 50 points in the bag and we would be sitting comfortably in fourth place in the table and everybody would be excited about the prospects for the remainder of the season.

And that’s with the current squad that we have.  The next couple of weeks are going to be crucial.  Mark Yates has sent out Jon Munday and Jonny Harkness on loan leaving the squad stretched even thinner than it already was, so he has room to manouevre to bring players in to strengthen.  So far he’s brought in Dean Bennett again, although I’m not convinced that this is a particularly good move, and apparently missed out on a youngster from Nottingham Forest who chose to move to Chesterfield instead.  I don’t think a 19-year0old kid is the answer though, we’re already a young side, a better move would be someone a bit more experienced in the middle of the park to take control of things and hopefully enable the team to see out games when they get in front.  One or two key players could be all that it takes to spark things back into life, it’s just a question of whether or not Mr Yates can find them.

But, back to the original question.  Season Over? I don’t think so, not just yet, anyway.

Popularity: 48% [?]

They say that the mark of a good side is being able to grind out results and pick up points when playing badly; Harriers seem to have that down to a ‘T’ at the moment.

The last four games have seen them pick up two wins and two draws and they haven’t looked at all convincing in the last three.  Another old cliche that almost fits at the moment is "Win the home games, draw away", the last four games being split evenly two at Aggborough and two on the road, so 8 points from those four games is "Championship Form".

We also know that when Harriers hit any sort of form during a game they are too much for somee teams to handle, see the results against Exeter and York for example, although at the moment those games seem a lifetime away in terms of performance.

Maybe when the likes of Scott Bevan, Jeff Kenna, Simon Russell and Iyseden Christie are all back from injury and Mark Yates has a full squad to choose from then we will see a return to those days when we were blowing teams away and scoring goals for fun.

Popularity: 83% [?]

I wrote a while back about how proper planning prevents poor performance; a couple of things have happened recently to bear that out.

A late arrival at Ebbsfleet lead to the game being delayed by nearly half an hour.  The game was lost and although the management and team refused to use it as an excuse the delay can’t have helped.  The M25 is notorious for traffic problems; when travelling around the northern section, and hoping to cross the river, there is the traffic leaving the motorway at Lakeside Shopping Centre to be negotiated, there is a queue to sit in waiting to pay the toll, then there is the fact that you have to pay to get over.  An earlier start, or at least the alternative route around the southern side of the motorway, would have had the team at the ground on time and not stressed out from the journey.

On Saturday Torquay had done their homework and used it to their advantage to help them to victory,  although the calamitous defending probably had more to do with the outcome of the game.  Paul Buckle knew that James Constable has a short fuse and sent his team out to do  their best to get him into trouble.  I lost count of the number of times that United defenders went down as if they had been shot whenever James went near them.  Eventually it paid off for them as he got a yellow card - his third of the season - but they were unable to get him to bite a second time and he stayed on the park and netted a couple more goals.

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A new season dawned with high expectations and Harriers needed less than an hour to crush them in the dirt.

A squad that had been together for a year and didn’t need to "gel" and the addition of a handful key players to give greater depth to the squad, even if numbers are low, should have been able to build upon their unbeaten pre-season.

Not so.  After a goalless first half against Aldershot they fell into their old ways of sloppy defending allowing the visitors to carve through the middle of them straight from the kick-off and score within nine seconds.  Harriers were statuesque as Scott Davies waltzed past them.

The second thing that was a carry-over from last season was Harriers’ inability to react to going behind.  On many occasions in the last campaign going behind meant game over, even if it was in the first half, and so it seemed on Saturday.  Even more so when Aldershot scored their second just before the hour.

Then Harriers decided that they should join in the game.  The closing stages saw them throw everything forward, even switching to three men in attack, something that we’ve seen many times over the years and nearly always leaving it too late.  After the match the Aldershot manager claimed that not many teams would come to Aggborough this season and get away with a result after facing such an onslaught.  The Weymouth management said the same thing last season in September and we all saw "fortress" Aggborough crumble.

Hopefully this was all a one off and before too long they will learn how to switch on from the start of the game; that they’ll be able to throw everything at the opposition from the start and not wait until they are trailing and there is not enough time left to get anything out of the game; and they won’t let their heads drop if they do go behind but will be able to react and get back into the game sooner rather than later.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

Torrential rain in Worcestershire this week, however, has prevented Harriers from getting their summer preparation underway as they would have liked.  It got off to a decent start last Saturday with a 45-minute workout for all but two of the squad in the 1-0 win at Rushall.

There should have been a repeat the following day at Bewdley but the game at Ribbesford Meadow fell foul of the weather less than an hour before kick-off.  Attempts to re-stage the game in midweek were foiled by the weather and now tomorrow’s anticipated game with FC United of Manchester at Aggborough has gone the same way.

By the time that they take on Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night Harriers will have gone ten days without playing, and those of the squad that have played will have only managed 45 minutes.  There is debate now as to whether the club left it too late in starting their pre-season games; some clubs in the Conference played in the week leading up to last weekend and will now be further advanced in their preparations.  I haven’t checked the details yet, but I’m going to stick my neck out and say that although those teams have played more games, so far, and are slightly sharper they probably aren’t that more advanced than we are; Harriers were back in training ten days before the game at Rushall, I expect that the other clubs were back around the same time and so went into their opening friendlies with less fitness work behind them.

Hopefully, before the season proper kicks-off on August 11, Harriers will manage to get the two lost games fitted in or at least a game or two arranged to replace them.  This season’s opening fixture is one that will need to be taken on with a full squad at peak condition; we don’t need a repeat of last season’s debacle when St Albans were underestimated and a good start to the season is imperative in this league with so many teams capable of competing at the top for the title and play-off positions.

Popularity: 89% [?]