Peterborough Sports fought hard against the odds in Kidderminster and now they want a strong finish from a depleted squad
It says plenty for the standards Peterborough Sports now set themselves that they can be disappointed with a National League North defeat at Kidderminster Harriers.
Harriers have a former Premier League manager in Phil Brown, they are second in the table just two points behind leaders Scunthorpe United, and they run a full-time professional playing squad.
In contrast Sports are very much a part-time club with one of the smallest fan bases in the division. Their budget is relatively small and the squad has been reduced in recent weeks by the departure of loan players and injuries to others. Key man Dan Jarvis could now miss the rest of the rest of the season with an ankle injury, while goalkeeper Peter Crook should return in a couple of weeks.
The hosts won 3-0 at Aggborough on Saturday, a result that would have been expected by many, but the game was in the balance until the final quarter and the defeat still left Sports in the top half of the table ahead of three matches against teams below them.
"We did okay in the first-half against a very good side,” Sports joint-manager Michael Gash. “They had the better chances, while we didn’t make enough of the many promising positions we found ourselves in. They scored a very good goal from a cross and the moment summed up a big difference between the teams. When they crossed the ball they had three or four people in the penalty area looking to attack the ball. We had one cross that travelled along the six yard line and we had player in the box.
"They were better than us in the second-half and we didn’t threaten them much, but we kept going and now we have five games left to achieve our ambitions. There will be no downing tools as we want a strong finish. We want to finish in the top half which would be our best ever finish and we are now just three points shy of last season’s points total which we want to beat.
"The next three games are against Leamington, Alfreton and Needham Market who are all below us so we want 100% application and effort in games and in training and I am sure we will get it.
"The squad we have now is the squad we will have until the end of the season. We looked at getting an experienced player in before last Thursday’s deadline, but we couldn’t find anyone suitable. This is where we are as a club at this level and as always we will just get on with it. "In the last six weeks or so the squad has also taken a battering. It hurt us to lose the Barnsley lads Bayley McCann and Jonathan Bland and we’ve lost some big players to injuries.”
Forward Max Booth could be back to face Leamington at PIMS Park next Saturday (April 5, 3pm).