On the back of tomorrows Sunday Mercury you'll be able to read my guest column.  I have ended the piece with these words;

Last week we think we got our season back on track with a win against Carlisle.  Hopefully by the time you read this we would have continued this with a win against Southend.

Keep at it Brit.  Most Harriers fans know you're doing a good job.

I would now like to retract these words and apologise for being so trusting.

Ian Britton has finally lost the plot.  Today he took the brave step of playing Matt Lewis from the start, a move that many fans have been calling for for some time now.

Matty started well with a chance in the very first seconds of the game that he only just failed to put away.  After that we saw some intelligent running off the ball and for the first time in ages Bo Henriksen started to look something like his old self.

The passing from the side was also some of the best we had seen in ages.  The only drawback there was that we came up against the perennial problem of big defenders doing their job properly.

It was looking promising even though we went into the break a goal to the bad.

After half time Bo failed to appear, presumed injured, and from that moment on we just fell to pieces.  Dean Bennett came on and either Lewis was playing as a lone striker or JJ didn't know where he was supposed to be.

Why didn't John Williams come on in exchange for Bo?  Why doesn't Matt Gadsby play from the start?  Why do we continue to play three at the back and see our full backs exposed time and time again?  Why was Matt Lewis taken off anyway?

And why on earth does Scott Stamps stand in front of the ball when Danny Williams takes a free kick?  That can't give Danny a clear sight of goal can it.  Surely he'd be better off being positioned ready for the rebound.

This isn't players not doing their job this is our tactically unaware manager getting it wrong.

The high point of the first half was Danny getting bundled away from a fracas by Adie Smith.  Top marks for Adie who knew that if Danny had gone for the player who had fouled him he'd have walked.  He had already picked up a yellow card for a foul a few minutes earlier.

The low point was the Southend goal.  A free kick in a position that Danny would have liked.

Adam Willis fouled the former Harriers striker Drew Broughton 25yds out and our poorly constructed wall just stood there and watched as the ball, taken by Gower and struck by Southends best player, Warren, went straight through the glaring gap to Brockies left.

As mentioned earlier Bo was taken off to be replaced by Dean Bennett.  From the very first second we found ourselves under pressure, mostly from our own mistakes.

Scott Stamps was caught out of position three times in as many minutes.  The first one was by Leon Constantine when a long pass from the right found him all alone where Scott was supposed to be.
As he advanced Brock stood rooted to the spot when in reality he should have been advancing himself in an attempt to cut down the angle.  Luckily for him Constantine didn't get his shot on target and steered the ball just wide.

The second two came from Jay Smith who again came up against an out of position Stamper.  He wasted both his chances with some poor finishing.

Slowly, from three sides of the ground came the shouts for Brit to go.  It's not a good thing to hear, especially when the team are not playing well, but how else can they express their feelings?

It's something that I would never join in with but it's hard to shout out "come on you Reds" when all around you the fans are calling for the gaffers head.

Our goal came totally against the run of play but couldn't have come at a better time.  JJ buried the ball at his third attempt after his first shot was pushed away by Flahaven, the second was cleared off the line by Cort and the third one went into the back of the net.

At first there was a momentary silence and then the Harriers fans erupted in celebration.  At this late stage of the game a point was a good result.

It was a pity that we couldn't add to it because soon after Tes Bramble was bought onto replace Broughton.  Drewe left the field to applause from both sets of fans.

With time running down Jamie Fullarton collected the ball on the right and, with Danny Williams backing off, he sent over a deep cross.  Constantine headed it back down and, with the defence static once more, Bramble swooped to force the ball home.

It wasn't the result that a poor Southend deserved but it was our just deserves for once again falling for the late goal.
Also for poor defending.  Lack of strike power.  Lack of communication.  Players being played out of position and above all for having a tactically defunct manager.