Kidderminster once again finish in the first place outside the play-off zone and are left thinking what might have been after another narrow miss. The Harriers once again kept the battle to the wire but were found wanting in the vital moments and now left to prepare for another campaign in the non-league. The season started less than smoothly and some poor performances in the first few weeks were mixed with some promising ones which was to be expected after the annual huge turnover of players in the summer. The Harriers soon started to pick good results on a more consistent basis and served up a 3:0 beating of Mansfield away from home in late September that signified their ambitions of a strong campaign. However, an injury crisis in October resulted in a serious downturn and some quite poor performances including a 3:1 loss at Barrow. It took a while for the players to recover their confidence but they really found their form in November. Jamille Matt started the season as a squad player but soon started to show real target-man qualities with his physique and composure and the goals started to flow. He scored in a number of games in December as well and a 3:2 win away at direct play-off rivals York before Christmas sent the team into the top five. It was by far their best performance up to then and the momentum was maintained going to the new year with some important wins away from home. The midfield was working well with Kyle Storer proving both a solid presence and an attacking threat while Tony Breeden was doing well between the sticks having been signed in October as a replacement for Danny Lewis who suffered a season-ending injury. Steve Burr went for it in the transfer market in January by signing three promising players from lower leagues in Marvin Johson, Anthony Malbon and Ryan Rowe. The first two had a very good impact for the rest of the season but top-scorer Matt was lost for the remainder of the season in February due to a personal matter. Kidderminster struggled to recover from that blow as they suffered three home defeats in March having previously been unbeaten at home since October. It looked for a while that they play-off dream was over after that poor run but there consecutive wins that all came up with goals in added time after coming from behind put them in the top five with just a couple of games left. However, the big clash against Luton on the penultimate round was lost 1:0 and the Harriers just about missed on their place in the play-offs. So now they will need to start over again but at least in Burr have one of the most energetic and determined managers in the non-league who is very well adapted to taking the best out of pretty average group of players.
