DEFENSIVE rock Mark Creighton has admitted Harriers’ poor run of form as been giving him sleepless nights.

The captain has been so worried about the Aggborough side’s recent dip in results that he’s been kept awake at night.

Harriers’ season has hit the buffers in recent weeks after going out of the FA Trophy at the hands of York and two consecutive Blue Square Premier defeats against Northwich Victoria and Cambridge United.

To make matters worse, the squad will have had to endure an 11-day break before their next league clash at home to Eastbourne on Saturday , after the mid-week clash at Wrexham was postponed because of the Dragons’ FA Trophy replay against Ebbsfleet.

Instead manager Mark Yates has been working his players hard in training to ensure the squad is in good shape to get back on track and give their faultering play-off hopes a big boost.

“At the moment morale is low because of the results we’ve had of late,” admitted Creighton.

“The players are feeling a bit down because we know we haven’t been playing at our best.

“We’re all disappointed with results and we know that the manager is not happy with us as well and has been training us hard.

“This break has came at the wrong time as well because all you want to do after some bad results is go out and put it right and we haven’t had a chance to do that yet.”

Creighton has stressed that if Harriers are to bounce back into the promotion reckoning they will need the support of the fans.

In recent weeks supporters have become unhappy with their team’s poor run of form, but Creighton insists that any negative feeling can have a detrimental effect on the players' already low confidence.

“What’s really important is that the fans get behind us,” said the captain.

“We need them all of their support because when there are some boos it doesn’t help.

“When a pass goes astray and there is a negative reaction it has as an effect because players don’t want the ball.

“I know that supporters sometimes think we go out there and don’t try our best, which isn’t true, sometimes it just doesn't happen for us.

“But we do care about what’s happening. We go home and worry and myself and the lads have had a few sleepless nights because of the last few results.

“In some respects we’ve been victims of our own success because we’ve raised expectations with our good form at the start of the season.

“We’re still in a decent position but the only way to restore our confidence is going and getting a result.

“If we beat Eastbourne then everyone will breathe a sigh of relief and we can concentrate of picking up results.”

n Fellow defender Martin Riley started for England C in last week’s 4-0 win over Malta under-21s, which saw Paul Brown, Sean Newton and Shaun Densmore score.

Russ Penn "Russ is a big part of this squad and if he's back then it will be great.

"He'll have missed the last few games and hopefully he'll be fresh and fired up and able to give us a lift."


FANS URGED TO BACK HARRIERS