Kidderminster had endured a woefully listless second half of the previous season and it was clear from the off that they are set for a struggle in the upcoming campaign. Gary Whild strung up a squad from young players with little quality and some very inexperienced loanees. Andy Dawson did look a fine addition to the squad but overall the Harriers were clearly out of their depth early in the season. They were competitive games and putting up a good fight more often than not but they were being undone by late goals on too many occasions and a set of three points remained elusive for them for very long time. Whild was given the sack at the start of September and club owner and former football agent Colin Gordon decided to take up the reins himself until he found a suitable replacement. He failed to oversee much improvement as players came and go and results remained poor. The Harriers were perched at the foot of the table and the most frustrating thing for them was that they were not playing that bad and it seemed like a win is just around the corner, only for them to keep messing up in losing more and more confidence. Then came Dave Hockaday as a new manager in October and the former Forest Green boss inspired the team to a much-needed first win of the season against Woking at the 19th attempt. They managed to win a second game before too long and suddenly the Harriers were looking up the table. But that proved a false down as results remained generally very poor and the lack of backbone and general quality in the squad was there to be seen. Goals were hard to come by while the defence was collapsing under a bit of pressure game after game. Hocakday was sacked at the turn of the year and Gordon decided to take over as manager for good for the rest of the season. Relegation already seemed certain as the gap to safety increased exponentially over January. Resignation seemed to take hold and the manager was unable to reverse the trend as the bottom side went on a seven-game losing streak. Yet they had a good run out of nowhere in February as Boreham Wood, Eastleigh and Macclesfield were all beaten after producing excellent performances that were full of spirit and drive. There was no a glimmer of hope that the season could still be kept alive. But the next false down followed after that as a single point was accumulated from the next seven games and the Harriers any remote chances of survival. Yet they had a really strong ending of the season as they did not lose even once in the final six games and only Tranmere downed them in the last nine. These final games showed that Kidderminster can be a decent side when the pressure is off and the nucleus of a decent squad is there for next season. Yet more winning mentality and ability to come out on top in tight games is needed if Kidderminster are to bounce straight back up.
