No, we haven't turned the corner

Optimism was high, from some fans before this game, that on recent results we might even reach the play offs this season.    So good were the team now under Mark Yates that we looked nigh on invincible and unbeatable.

By the end of this dire product it was obvious that the Harriers players didn't share that view and conspired to produce a performance that will go down in memory as one best forgotten.

Gone was the solid display at Halifax last week when they held a high flying team on their own patch to a goal less draw and gone was the firepower that reaped four goals at Southport the previous week to that.    You can say that two of those goals were scored by two recently departed players in Christie and Jackson but yesterday against Gravesend we had no one that looked remotely capable of scoring.

Simon Russell, another of the scorers at Southport, tried hard but ran into the Gravesend brick wall throughout.    Andy White is no striker and, apart from one shot early on, didn't get a sniff of a chance throughout but might do better if he actually looked where the ball was before going up with his back to it.

Gareth Sheldon hasn't a clue and neither does the Watford youngster Francino Francis who, unless he's prepared to put himself about a bit, should be sent back to North London pronto.

In midfield Jake Sedgemore was another one that failed to impress with his wayward passing and wayward positional play that continually put John Danby under needless pressure.    The stories that we heard from Shrewsbury and Burton fans about his inconsistencies seem to be true.

This result and our performance should take nothing from Gravesend though.    They came with a gameplan to attack every ball, stifle us and generally deny us any room and it worked right from the very first minute.

That shot from Andy White was the first to come when he sent in a crisp shot from the edge of the area that the Fleet keeper did well to save.    After that we seemed to lose our way and Gravesend took over with their goal coming from a corner that deceived Danby and six Harriers players to fall at the far post where Onome Sodje was waiting to push it home.    Sodje is one of the many other Sodjes' plying their trade in English football with the most well known being Efetober Sodje now playing for Southend.    I presume that their mother has stopped breeding now.

Simon Russell had a snapshot soon after but again the keeper saw it coming to push it out past the post and then Sheldon saw a shot go well over the bar before they all trooped off for half time..