REDDITCH United manager Tim Harris has conceded his squad’s performance levels need to rise if his side are to stand a chance of beating Royston Town and Weymouth after successive defeats.
The Reds slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Chesham United on Saturday before a fantastic 1,651 Trico Stadium crowd witnessed Hereford beat Harris’ charges by the same scoreline on Easter Monday.
Despite the superb atmosphere generated by both sets of supporters on Monday afternoon, along with Saturday’s loss at Chesham, Harris admitted “we didn’t really deserve anything out of either game” and has challenged the players to pick themselves up ahead of two more tough home fixtures – at home to Royston Town tonight (Wednesday) and Weymouth on Saturday.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We all know we are in the middle of a tough run of fixtures, but other teams are going through similar patches of fixture congestion so we cannot complain,” said Harris.
“Games against Chesham and then Hereford – the team I think will go up as worthy champions – were markers to show our credentials, but, unfortunately, we fell short of what I expected.”
While injuries are mounting – Tyler Weir (ankle), Ashley Sammons (gluteus), Lewis Wright (hamstring) and Tom Fishwick, who has various knocks – all of whom will monitored before tonight’s clash, Harris refuses to make excuses.
He believes the squad boasts the talent but is certainly lacking in consistency and confidence at times.
The boss added: “If we play on the front foot, score the first goal, then we are likely to go on and put in a decent performance.
“We have the ability in the squad, but it is a young and inexperienced one, too, which means our senior professionals need to step up and demonstrate more responsibilities.”
One of those experienced pros is back, with Harris calling on striker Andy Morrell to give the squad a boost as he is available for the game against Royston Town.
