The Harriers plunged into the relegation zone today when they lost at home for the second time in a week.  This time to a very ordinary looking Lincoln City.

They started the game with the surprising news that promising loan player, Adam Murray, had been sent back to his club, Derby County, because he was ill.  Err yes!  Then just give him time to get better then and extend his loan.  There's more to this than meets the eye!

New signing Mikael Antoine-Curier, hereafter known as MAC, was on the bench as Brit changed the starting formation to 4-4-2 but decided to go with a defender, Matt Gadsby, out wide on the right hand side.

After a ponderous opening few minutes Lincoln were the first to threaten with a goal when Paul Mayo hit the corner of the crossbar with a long range free kick that Stuart Brock didn't even see.  The bar shook violently as the ball was scrambled away to safety.

Within a minute we had taken a somewhat unexpected lead.  Danny Williams set Lloyd Dyer free on the left and as he dashed down the left he slipped past Simon Weaver, looked up, and powered the ball into the net from an acute angle.

Instead of pressing for a further goal we decided to sit back and let City come at us.  What little action we were seeing up front was coming to nothing as the midfield seemed to be running around in circles and getting in each others way.  This was leading to a lack of supply to the front runners, Bo and Bish, who both seemed to be on a different wavelength.

On more than one occasion in the first half the hard working Andy Bishop was getting free of his marker but had no one to pass to because Bo was looking un-interested and opting to stay where he was.

Lincoln were starting to take hold of the game now and it was no surprise when they pulled a goal back.

Richard Butcher sent over a perfect cross from the right and, with his back to goal, Marcus Richardson gave Stuart Brock no chance with a superb overhead kick from 10yds out.

This had now given the Red Imps the spur they needed and they went in search of another goal.  That came just at the time that we should have been looking for one, just before halftime.

Paul Mayo took a throw in that went into the box.  Adam Willis headed it away, but only as far as Richard Butcher who promptly headed it back over Brockie and into the net.

After the disastrous first half the crowd were looking for a substitution at the restart but it never happened.

The game got bogged down in midfield with most of the passes from both sides going astray and very little cohesive action from the front.  We are in need of a midfield general, someone to push the team and get them working.  Someone like Sean Flynn.

The first attempt on goal in this half came 15 minutes in for Lincoln when Gary Fletcher crossed for Richard Liburd.  The chance was wasted when he shot well wide.

After that Ian Britton decided to ring the changes and bought on all 3 subs in one go.  Dean Bennett, John Williams and MAC came on to replace the departing Matt Gadsby, Andy Bishop and Craig Hinton.  The team went to 3-4-3.

Straight away you could see the difference.  Deano got in behind their defenders and started to put some decent balls into the area.  Bo had now woken up and at last started to show some interest.

MAC showed some nice touches too and could be a decent player for us which is more than I can say for John Williams.  For my sins I also follow Coventry City, not as much as the Harriers though.
15yrs ago John was a damn good player, fast, skilful and with an eye for goal.  15yrs on and that's gone, all gone.

With the recent influx of new faces Brit will have to cut the wage bill again soon and I don't expect to see Willo here by the end of the week.  Was that the reason for Murray going back?

Back to big John Williams and he missed a sitter.  The kind of chance that even Drewe Broughton would have buried.

Deano crossed the ball to John, who was stood in front of the goal looking suspiciously offside, no matter.  With the goal at his mercy all he had to do was jump and direct a bullet header past Marriot in the City goal.

He didn't jump and the ball landed on the top of his head and bounced well over the bar.  I don't think he's realised yet.

After that we began to press for a goal but the feeling was that it was too late.  In the 4 minutes of added extra time we had another chance of an equaliser when Adie Smith saw his header cleared off the line by Mark Bailey.

This result saw us drop down to 4th from bottom, just 1 point above Southend in 23rd spot.  With tough games coming up at Hull and Huddersfield we may find ourselves in even more trouble unless Brit can pinpoint what the problem is.

This team have so much talent it's breathtaking but to get them to work together is a different matter.