CFuller

KIDDERMINSTER PLAYER STATISTICS (2010/2011 - up to 22 November 2010) Goalkeepers Apps Con Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Baardsen, Espen 1 3 0 0 0 0 5.00 26 Preece, David 18 22 0 0 0 0 7.28 Outfield Players Apps Gls Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Bell, Simon 6 (1) 1 0 1 0 0 6.00 17 Berntsson, Billy 7 (1) 0 1 0 0 0 7.38 9 Berry, Jamie 6 (4) 3 2 0 0 1 7.10 15 Brennan, Jim 4 (6) 0 1 1 0 0 6.40 31 Collins, David 13 (2) 6 2 0 0 2 7.00 12 Derry, Shaun 18 (1) 2 2 2 0 0 7.11 10 Garside, Robert 16 (1) 7 3 0 0 3 7.18 11 Graham, Paul 2 (2) 1 0 0 0 0 6.75 19 Gray, Alan 13 (3) 0 2 0 0 0 6.94 6 Heikkinen, Markus 19 1 0 1 0 0 6.95 18 Howe, Bradley 2 (8) 1 0 0 0 0 6.90 21 Kooistra, Frank 8 (8) 0 0 1 0 1 6.63 7 Morfitt, Adrian 11 1 1 1 0 2 7.27 27 Mulder, Albert 14 (1) 4 4 1 0 1 7.67 5 Redhe, Tobias 8 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 23 Scott, Alan 1 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 6.60 16 Simpson, Scott 4 (6) 1 0 0 0 0 6.70 3 Simpson, Terry 7 (4) 0 0 4 0 0 6.82 2 Unai 14 0 1 4 0 0 6.86 14 Watson, Lee 17 (1) 2 4 2 0 0 6.89 * [Player not currently at club]

DIVISION 1 TABLE (2010/2011 - up to 22 November 2010) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Crewe 19 9 1 0 23 7 4 2 3 13 14 42 2nd Grimsby 18 6 3 0 17 5 4 4 1 8 5 37 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Chesterfield 18 6 1 2 15 7 5 2 2 14 13 36 4th Sheff Utd 18 7 1 1 27 9 3 3 3 11 12 34 5th Charlton 18 5 2 2 14 7 3 6 0 9 6 32 6th West Ham 19 5 3 1 12 6 4 2 4 13 11 32 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Torquay 18 6 1 1 21 7 3 3 4 13 15 31 8th Preston 18 6 3 1 19 11 3 0 5 6 13 30 9th Birmingham 18 4 1 4 20 18 5 1 3 24 23 29 10th Nottm Forest 18 8 0 1 22 8 1 2 6 6 18 29 11th Fulham 18 5 1 3 16 9 3 3 3 12 10 28 12th Huddersfield 19 3 1 5 10 10 5 3 2 13 9 28 13th Kidderminster 18 5 3 1 21 8 3 0 6 8 14 27 14th Tottenham 18 7 1 1 18 7 1 2 6 12 20 27 15th W.B.A. 19 5 2 3 17 11 2 2 5 8 16 25 16th Swindon 18 4 3 2 13 7 2 2 5 15 15 23 17th Aston Villa 18 3 3 3 12 13 2 2 5 11 15 20 18th Notts Co 18 3 3 3 11 10 1 2 6 11 23 17 19th Sunderland 18 3 5 1 9 6 0 2 7 2 14 16 20th Carlisle 18 4 2 3 14 12 0 2 7 5 23 16 21st Dag & Red 18 2 4 3 5 7 1 2 6 2 9 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd Norwich 18 2 3 4 17 18 0 2 7 12 31 11 23rd Millwall 18 1 3 5 8 15 0 3 6 4 16 9 24th Bristol City 18 0 3 6 3 17 1 1 7 3 19 7

NOVEMBER 2010 Our last eight matches had been the dictionary definition of inconsistent - four wins, four defeats. We were still having a fine season, sitting 11th in Division 1, but we needed to become more reliable to stay in play-off contention. November would be a busy month, with six league matches on our schedule - including four at home. The first of those was against Steve Bruce's Nottingham Forest, who were two points ahead of us in 8th place, but who were missing their midfield talisman Tonton Zola Moukoko through injury. 3 NOVEMBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Nottingham Forest We got off to a positive start, creating a couple of good chances that were well defended by Forest. The pressure we were putting our visitors under eventually told in the 26th minute, when Albert Mulder drew a foul from Jody Craddock in the penalty area. Vice-captain Adrian Morfitt stepped forward to dispatch the penalty - his first goal this season. However, our lead would last just five minutes. An excellent free-kick from Scott Wilson was volleyed in by Forest's legendary captain Andy Reid, who had surprisingly had a barren run of form in front of goal this season. In fact, that was also his first goal of the campaign. We created a couple of opportunities to restore our lead in the 36th minute. Mulder's fierce strike from just outside the area was tipped behind by Stuart Sadler, who also kept out David Collins' header from the subsequent corner. Sadler might only have been 19 years of age, but he was certainly showing why he was one of the country's best young goalkeepers. Sadly, we would not threaten the target again. Thankfully, some determined defending from Tobias Redhe helped keep any Nottingham Forest attacks at bay throughout the second half. After a tricky contest against the Tricky Trees, we were somewhat relieved to come away with a share of the points. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Morfitt pen26) Nottingham Forest - 1 (Reid 31) Division 1, Attendance 7,196 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 11th, Nottm Forest 8th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Redhe, Heikkinen, Unai (Kooistra); Morfitt, Gray; Watson (Howe), Derry; Collins; Garside, Mulder (Berry). Another tricky home game awaited us three days later. Sheffield United had parted company with Neil Warnock over the summer and had been re-energised by their new manager Graham Rix, who had taken them up to 3rd position. With an average rating of 7.89, Italian wing-back Raffaele Mazzocco was one of the league's stand-out performers. 6 NOVEMBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Sheffield United Albert Mulder had not quite hit top scoring form, and this would be another fruitless day at the office for the young Dutchman. After dribbling skilfully past Sheffield United centre-backs Benny Winther and Domenico Palmieri in the fifth minute, he was thwarted by the Blades' last line of defence in goalkeeper Justin Bray. Mulder had another great effort saved by Bray in the 37th minute, after receiving a great through-ball from attacking midfielder Robert Garside. On this occasion, however, Albert's strike partner Jamie Berry was on hand to bury the loose ball - giving us a 1-0 lead at half-time! Unfortunately, Mulder would not return for the second period. He appeared to have suffered a toe injury late in the first half and was unable to continue. Taking his place was the evergreen David Collins, who unluckily sent a shot flying over United's crossbar in the 48th minute. As the second half progress, Graham Rix's Blades gradually sharpened up. Iran midfielder Hamed Kavianpour clipped a shot against the crossbar in the 54th minute - a warning of what was to come. Ten minutes before full-time, Kavianpour tried his luck again from a flick-on by young substitute Steve Cole, and this time, David Preece was well beaten. For the second time in four days, we had been held to a 1-1 draw at home. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Berry 37) Sheffield United - 1 (Kavianpour 80) Division 1, Attendance 7,231 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 11th, Sheff Utd 4th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Redhe, Heikkinen, Kooistra; Morfitt (T Simpson), Gray; Watson, Derry (Howe); Garside, Berry, Mulder (Collins). BOOKED: Derry. The news about Albert Mulder's injury wasn't as bad as I feared. The Dutch forward had stubbed his toe, which meant that while he would sit out our upcoming trip to West Brom, he would likely return the following weekend. Mulder was soon joined on the sidelines by David Collins, who bruised his thigh. That meant a recall for big Alan Scott, who had featured just three times this season and needed to justify his place in the squad. There was an incredible atmosphere at the Hawthorns for the Friday night Midlands derby against West Brom. An away win would reinvigorate our play-off charge, but defeat would see the 16th-placed Baggies overtake us in the standings. 12 NOVEMBER 2010: West Bromwich Albion vs Kidderminster Harriers You probably know I don't exactly have a great relationship with Canadians - and Frank Yallop's hosts gave me an early kick in the Canucks after just 12 minutes. David Preece parried behind a fierce shot from Baggies midfielder Gary Jones to concede a corner, which was brilliantly delivered into the box by left-back Mike Holland. Then came a devastating header from ex-Liverpool striker Neil Mellor, who headed in his 14th goal in 14 games for Albion. After a couple of wayward efforts from Kiddy midfielder Scott Simpson, West Brom were back on the offensive. Jones' promising run towards goal might have been stopped by Shaun Derry, but our reliable anchor couldn't keep the loose ball away from the advancing winger Wade Elliott. A first-time strike flew into the top corner, and we trailed 2-0 at the break. With our situation looking pretty dire, I switched from a 3-5-2 to a more conservative 4-4-2 diamond for the second half. Markus Heikkinen had been a surprisingly weak link in our defence, so I brought Canadian defensive midfielder Jim Brennan back into the fold. I also brought on Alan Scott, in the hope that he could be a big focal point for our counter-attacks. Yeah... those changes wouldn't have made a difference if we were still rotten at defending corners. When Preece gave away another corner in the 64th minute, our defenders forgot any lessons they had learnt from last time out. Another Holland delivery, another Mellor header, another goal, 3-bloody-nil. There was some late respite when Mellor suffered a knee ligament injury in the 74th minute, ending his hopes of scoring a hat-trick. Even so, it was still a miserable performance for the Harriers. West Bromwich Albion - 3 (Mellor 12,64, Elliott 36) Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 15,754 - POSITIONS: West Brom 10th, Kidderminster 12th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Bell, Heikkinen (Brennan), Kooistra; Morfitt, Gray (T Simpson); Watson, Derry; S Simpson; Garside (Scott), Berry. Well, then. Guess we still have some way to go before we're challenging for the play-offs. At least one Harrier had a good weekend. 19-year-old striker Paul Graham had just joined Division 3 side Telford on loan until the end of the season to gain some more first-team experience. Graham didn't score on his debut, but the promising Scotsman did help the Bucks beat Colchester 1-0. Our next match was at home to Chris Kamara's Torquay, who had continued to defy the odds and were in 6th place. Having taken the Gulls all the way from the bottom of Division 3 to a position where Premiership football was a realistic prospect, Kammy was clearly a talented manager whose skills would be coveted by bigger clubs. I certainly don't see myself as being at Kammy's level, so I was surprised when Kidderminster chairman Darren Gibson called me into his office - and told me that Fulham had made an approach for my services. The Cottagers were just ahead of us in the standings, and their manager Garry Hill had been poached by top-flight Bradford. Kidderminster were not really in a financial position to reject Fulham's approach - we were still losing money hand over fist. By contrast, the Cottagers were wealthy, ambitious, and had strong Premiership aspirations. Later that week, I travelled to west London and was interviewed at Craven Cottage by Richard Bailey - a millionaire businessman who was in his second year as Fulham's chairman. Despite having a high turnover of managers after narrowly escaping relegation for three straight seasons, I sensed that this club was itching to play in the Premiership again for the first time since 2005. Upon my return to Worcestershire, I told my Kidderminster players to ignore any speculation about my future. It was vital that we stayed focussed on the job at hand - beating Torquay at Aggborough, and getting our season back on track. Both Mulder and Collins were back in the line-up from injury, but there was one surprising absence when I announced my starting XI. Captain Lee Watson had been in poor form over the past few weeks, so I decided to drop him to the bench - and instead gave 17-year-old midfielder Bradley Howe his first league start of the season. 20 NOVEMBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Torquay United Torquay's emergence as play-off contenders had been sparked by the signings of two new strikers in the summer - Luton veteran Lee Hughes, and our former Sheffield United nemesis Jimmy Moran. Both men had their opportunities in the first half, but David Preece held his nerve to keep his clean sheet intact... for the time being. Then, after 24 minutes, we stunned Chris Kamara's boys with an unbelievable counter-attack. Teenager Bradley Howe showed great composure to play a 30-yard ball to David Collins, who chested it down and then set up a tidy finish for Robert Garside. That gave us a 1-0 lead, which we managed to cling onto until the second minute of the second half... ...when Howe won us a corner. Shaun Derry ran up to take the set-piece, which he swung onto the head of Markus Heikkinen, giving our experienced Finnish stopper his first goal of the season! Was it game over? Another Finland centre-back had other ideas. Three minutes after Heikkinen's opener, his international team-mate Sampsa Timoska unleashed a fierce shot that was awkwardly blocked by Markus' defensive colleague Unai. The first man onto the loose ball was another Torquay player - free-scoring midfielder Kevin Allan, whose unstoppable effort pulled it back to 2-1. The Gulls had fresh hope, and when Kamara replaced a tiring Hughes with Jamaican journeyman David Johnson, they also had fresh legs up front. A marksman of Johnson's experience should have buried a clever lob from Moran in the 63rd minute, but he somehow put it horribly wide. Moran then let us off again by missing another equalising opportunity in the 69th. Torquay would rue those misses after 72 minutes, when Garside's floated cross was converted by Albert Mulder for a 3-1 Kidderminster lead. Seven minutes after that, Garside sealed victory with his second goal of the afternoon, pouncing on a rebound from Howe's blocked shot. After losing by three goals the previous weekend, we had inflicted the same punishment on our visitors from Devon. Kidderminster Harriers - 4 (Garside 24,79, Heikkinen 47, Mulder 72) Torquay United - 1 (Allan 50) Division 1, Attendance 7,217 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 13th, Torquay 7th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Redhe, Heikkinen (Scott), Unai (Kooistra); Morfitt, Gray; Howe, Derry; Collins (Watson); Garside, Mulder. BOOKED: Unai. Despite our return to winning ways, there was some bad news - Markus Heikkinen would be out for the next three weeks after twisting his knee in the closing stages. Kidderminster's defence wasn't exactly the most stable in Division 1, but Markus had missed only 14 of my 124 competitive games as Harriers manager, so his absence would be significant. Before going down the tunnel, I applauded the home fans to thank them for their support. I suspected that this might be my last home game at Aggborough and felt that it was important to show my gratitude to the fans while I still had the chance. Less than 48 hours later, the time had indeed come to say goodbye. A compensation package had been agreed between Kidderminster and Fulham, contracts had been signed, and my move to Craven Cottage was about to be announced. After the sudden and acrimonious end to my Dagenham & Redbridge tenure, I was grateful to Kidderminster for giving me the opportunity to resume my managerial career. I'm sure the feeling was mutual, after guiding the Harriers up through the Division 2 play-offs - and then consolidating the club's status in Division 1. Can Kidderminster continue their upward trajectory without me? Can this little club eventually make it all the way to the Premiership? Who knows? If one thing was certain, though, it was that I would be leaving Aggborough in much happier circumstances than when I had left Victoria Road. After two-and-a-half wonderful years in Worcestershire, the time had come to return home to London - and take on the next challenge of my career.

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of October 2010) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Crewe 15 8 0 0 19 6 4 2 1 12 8 38 2nd Sheff Utd 14 6 0 1 23 7 3 2 2 10 9 29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Grimsby 14 6 2 0 17 5 2 3 1 4 3 29 4th Chesterfield 14 4 1 1 9 3 5 1 2 13 12 29 5th Torquay 14 5 1 0 14 3 3 3 2 11 9 28 6th West Ham 15 4 3 1 11 6 3 2 2 10 7 26 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Charlton 14 3 2 1 9 5 3 5 0 8 5 25 8th Nottm Forest 14 7 0 1 19 7 1 0 5 3 14 24 9th Fulham 14 4 0 3 13 7 3 2 2 10 7 23 10th Swindon 14 4 3 1 13 6 2 1 3 11 9 22 11th Kidderminster 14 4 1 1 15 5 3 0 5 8 11 22 12th Preston 14 4 3 1 14 8 2 0 4 4 10 21 13th Huddersfield 15 2 1 5 6 9 3 3 1 9 6 19 14th Tottenham 14 4 1 1 12 6 1 2 5 12 19 18 15th Birmingham 14 3 1 4 16 17 2 1 3 15 18 17 16th W.B.A. 15 2 2 3 10 10 2 2 4 8 13 16 17th Dag & Red 14 2 4 0 4 2 1 2 5 2 8 15 18th Aston Villa 14 1 3 2 9 12 2 2 4 10 12 14 19th Carlisle 14 3 2 3 13 12 0 2 4 2 14 13 20th Notts Co 14 1 3 2 4 5 1 2 5 11 19 11 21st Sunderland 14 1 4 1 5 5 0 1 7 2 14 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd Millwall 14 1 2 5 6 13 0 2 4 3 10 7 23rd Norwich 14 1 2 4 14 17 0 2 5 11 26 7 24th Bristol City 14 0 2 6 2 16 1 1 4 3 14 6 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... While Chelsea remain undefeated in all competitions, Manchester United continue their relentless pursuit of the Premiership title with nine wins from their first 10 matches. Their only blip is a 2-1 defeat at Highbury to Arsenal, who climb back up to 7th place, despite Arsène Wenger's insistence on playing 16-year-old Robbie Lynch in goal. Alan Shearer is sacked as Everton manager after a disastrous six-month tenure. It follows a crushing 5-0 defeat at Crystal Palace that leaves the Toffees stuck in the relegation zone, with just one win and one goal from their first 11 games. Everton's players are met with a barrage of boos, much to the annoyance of misfiring captain Wayne Rooney. Michael Owen scores his 40th England goal in a comfortable 4-0 away win over Bulgaria, while Rangers striker Eiður Guðjohnsen condemns Scotland to a shock 1-0 defeat in Reykjavík. Upon his return to Edinburgh, a furious Tartan Army boss Maurice Malpas declares, "I hate Iceland!" Lazio loosen their grip on the Serie A scudetto after Alberto Gilardino scores a 90th-minute winner for Roma in the Olimpico derby. Roma remain undefeated with 18 points from eight games... as do Reggina, who continue their strong start with a shock 3-1 win over Milan. Meanwhile in France, Ligue 2 side Nice try to stave off relegation by appointing Wycombe's Ryan Giggs as their new manager. Could this be Valencia's year in La Liga? Despite struggling to qualify from their Champions League group, Claudio Ranieri's side climb to the top of their league thanks to a José Mari hat-trick at Celta, who slump back into the relegation zone. Celta boss David O'Leary wonders whether he should have stayed at Elland Road after all. IN OTHER NEWS... 69 days after a mine collapses in the Chilean city of Copiapó, leaving 33 miners trapped 700 metres underground, a huge rescue effort comes to an end. Miraculously, all 33 men are rescued and survive. San Francisco-based programmers Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launch their new social networking service Instagram. Now people from around the world can share photos of what they had for breakfast! In one of the most mismatched celebrity weddings of recent times, sugar-sweet American pop superstar Katy Perry marries the troublemaking British comedian/man-child Russell Brand. Katy decides not to take Russell's surname over fears she might get confused for another Katy Brand. British entertainer Sir Norman Wisdom - whose comedy films in the 1950s and 1960s made him a much-loved international star - dies on the Isle of Man aged 95. He was especially popular in Albania, where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed to be shown under Enver Hoxha's communist dictatorship.

OCTOBER 2010 Kidderminster's league campaign had got off to a decent start, with four wins, four defeats and a single draw to our name. We were already eight points clear of the relegation zone - but if we had wanted to challenge for the play-offs, we would need to be more clinical in front of goal. 11 goals in nine matches just won’t do. After missing the start of the campaign, the popular target man Alan Scott was finally ready to return to league action. He was named on the bench for our trip to south London, with Albert Mulder and Robert Garside leading our attack against a Millwall team who were winless and rock-bottom. 2 OCTOBER 2010: Millwall vs Kidderminster Harriers Despite their lowly position, Millwall had an ace up their sleeves. Former Arsenal striker Nwankwo Kanu had recently arrived on a free transfer from Hertha BSC, and when Unai conceded a foul close to our area in the 9th minute, the Nigerian veteran punished him with a devastating free-kick. 1-0 to the basement dwellers. However, thing started to turn in the 26th minute, when Millwall's former England Under-21s winger Matthew Simmonds went down with a leg injury. By the 33rd minute, we had stolen the momentum. Albert Mulder's deft chip into the Lions' area was met by a superb header from David Collins, who sent us into the break with the scores level at 1-1. We grew with confidence in the second half, as Robert Garside tested Millwall keeper Gary Smith in the 48th minute. Seven minutes later, when Kanu pushed Harriers captain Lee Watson about 25 yards from goal, we had an opportunity to take the lead. Mulder delivered the free-kick into the box, where another Collins header completed the turnaround. After scoring goals in the 33rd and 55th minutes, it seemed inevitable that Collins would complete his hat-trick in the 77th. He used his head to devastating effect again, but this time, the assist came from a right-wing cross by Billy Berntsson. Smith's inability to save Collins' headers was shattering for Millwall, who had a potential Kanu equaliser ruled out for offside just six minutes before David's third goal. Millwall - 1 (Kanu 9) Kidderminster Harriers - 3 (Collins 33,55,77) Division 1, Attendance 18,428 - POSITIONS: Millwall 24th, Kidderminster 8th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Kooistra, Heikkinen, Unai (Redhe); Berntsson, Gray; Watson, Derry; Collins (S Simpson); Garside, Mulder (Scott). BOOKED: Unai, Kooistra. Fancy that! We spent nearly a million quid on a new teenage striker, and yet a 30-year-old David Collins is still our biggest goal threat! Unfortunately, Unai would be out for the next three weeks with a damaged foot. Losing such a key defender would have been a disaster if it had come in the middle of a packed schedule - but as our next match wasn't for another fortnight, his absence wouldn't be felt quite so keenly. Thank you, sweet international break! Two weeks later, we went back on the road to face another team who were promoted to Division 1 alongside Millwall last season. After spending a full decade in Division 2, Swindon's continued faith in long-time manager Roy Evans was finally repaid when they finished runners-up. The Robins were bobbing along nicely back at this level, and a home victory at the City Ground would see them leapfrog us in the table. As far as we were concerned, Tobias Redhe replaced Unai on the left side of our defence. There was also a recall at right wing-back for vice-captain Adrian Morfitt, who'd missed our last four games with a leg injury. 16 OCTOBER 2010: Swindon Town vs Kidderminster Harriers We were on the attack after just 10 minutes. David Collins headed a Lee Watson long ball goalwards, but Swindon goalkeeper Nicky Weaver managed to tip that away, before also saving the rebound shot from Robert Garside. However, that was not a thing of signs to come - we wouldn't get another shot on target all game long. Four minutes later, Swindon took the lead thanks to an excellent drive from midfielder Keith Baker. They almost added another goal just seconds after the restart, but Spain Under-21s striker Carlos Ballesta sent a header inches wide. Ballesta's next attack was more devastating. After 22 minutes, a furious strike from the former West Ham youngster drew an awkward save from David Preece, who was helpless to keep out the rebound. That put us 2-0 down, though Preece regained enough composure to stop Ballesta from making it 3-0 before the first half-hour was up. Despite creating several more opportunities over the next 60 minutes, Swindon could not increase their two-goal advantage, thanks in part to some fine goalkeeping from Preece. The Robins' gameplan had been very effective, especially when it came to stifling Albert Mulder, who had three shots at goal and never got close with any of them. Swindon Town - 2 (Baker 14, Ballesta 22) Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 11,158 - POSITIONS: Swindon 9th, Kidderminster 11th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Kooistra (Brennan), Heikkinen, Redhe; Morfitt, Gray; Watson, Derry; Collins; Garside (Scott), Mulder. BOOKED: Heikkinen. It was easy to blame Mulder again, but I spared most of my criticism for another young Dutchman. Frank Kooistra had made too many mistakes at the back since arriving on loan from Grimsby, and we were much more solid once Jim Brennan replaced him. If Kooistra's performances didn't improve soon, he would be on the first train back to Cleethorpes. Both Kooistra and Mulder were benched, and Collins was rested, when we welcomed Birmingham to Aggborough in midweek. The Blues had justified their pre-season favourites tag by scoring 25 goals in just 11 matches... but they had also conceded 27, which meant they were floundering in 15th place. Expect goals a-plenty! 19 OCTOBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Birmingham City We immediately hit Birmingham with an aggressive high-pressing game. Though Shaun Derry and Terry Simpson both overstepped the mark and picked up yellow cards, the Blues were clearly rattled. In the 17th minute, just moments after their star striker Tom Youngs was forced off with a thigh injury, the visitors suffered another blow when Jamie Berry headed us into the lead from Lee Watson's corner. That was Berry's first competitive goal of the season - and in the 31st minute, another player doubled our lead with his first ever Kidderminster strike! After Derry's free-kick rebounded off the Birmingham wall, Simon Bell unexpectedly came forward and unleashed a piledriver into the top corner! The 26-year-old centre-back might have fallen out of favour recently, but perhaps this would rejuvenate his Harriers career? Jørn Mikkelsen's nightmare in the Blues goal continued just before half-time. In the 43rd minute, Berry beat the Norwegian shotstopper to a Jim Brennan free-kick, which doubled our teenage striker's tally. When we won another free-kick two minutes later, Derry stepped forward and fired it straight into the net, clinching his first goal of the campaign! Being 4-0 up at half-time, we predictably took things a bit easier in the second half. 17-year-old midfielder Bradley Howe came on for some more experience, and by all accounts did a pretty good job protecting our backline. At the other end, we would find the net just once more, as Robert Garside effortlessly dribbled past Blues defender Chris Senior en route to giving us a 5-0 lead after 69 minutes. Nice. Birmingham had clearly lost the game, so they relaxed for the final 20 minutes, and even pulled back a couple of goals. Midfielder Richard Hughes' strike in the 71st minute was his first goal of the season, making him the FOURTH player to break his duck in this match. The last word went to his midfield colleague and namesake Richard Murphy, whose effort seven minutes from full-time made it 5-2 in the end. Kidderminster Harriers - 5 (Berry 17,43, Bell 31, Derry 45, Garside 69) Birmingham City - 2 (Hughes 71, Murphy 83) Division 1, Attendance 7,222 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 8th, Birmingham 17th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Brennan, Heikkinen, Bell; Berntsson, T Simpson (Gray); Watson, Derry (Howe); Garside; Scott, Berry. BOOKED: Derry, T Simpson. Well... I expected goals, but not quite that many! And what a performance from Jamie Berry, who's now on 15 goals and 9 assists in 57 career league games. He's still only 18! There were still a few defensive issues without Unai. The good news was that the Spaniard returned to full fitness just in time for our trip to 9th-placed West Ham, whose backline was rather more resilient than Birmingham's. This would be much more of a struggle, I reckoned. 23 OCTOBER 2010: West Ham United vs Kidderminster Harriers Dave Nugent almost gave West Ham the lead after three minutes, when his diving header was well caught by David Preece. Though another Nugent header in the 16th minute was again saved by Preece, he would soon get another bite at the cherry. Former Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher got to the loose ball and returned it to Nugent, who found some space before making it third time lucky. The Hammers' momentum could have been killed stone dead in the 24th minute, when winger Luis Boa Morte suffered a game-ending leg injury. Sadly, we failed to take advantage, and some shocking defending from Simon Bell allowed home captain Pablo Niño to head in their second goal just before the break. El Niño struck with hurricane force again in the 60th minute, when the 32-year-old Spaniard headed Thomas Holt's left-wing cross in at the near post. Preece was understandably furious at his defenders - not least substitute Frank Kooistra, whose tactical awareness was once again under huge scrutiny. Though there was no late drama for these Eastenders to endure, we did at least take something away from Upton Park. An 82nd-minute own goal from West Ham's Finnish defender Miika Koppinen brought a smile to the face of his compatriot Markus Heikkinen, if nothing else. West Ham United - 3 (Nugent 16, Pablo Niño 41,60) Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Koppinen og82) Division 1, Attendance 17,986 - POSITIONS: West Ham 9th, Kidderminster 12th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Bell, Heikkinen, Unai (Kooistra); Berntsson, T Simpson (Gray); Watson, Derry; Collins (Howe); Garside, Berry. We were now five points off the play-off places, following a fifth defeat in seven away games. Perhaps we needed to take a more conservative approach on the road? I switched to a 4-4-2 diamond when we went to Bristol City a week later. Gary Speed's Robins might have slumped to the bottom of the table after scoring just five league goals this season, but the Division 2 champions from last season still couldn't be underestimated. 30 OCTOBER 2010: Bristol City vs Kidderminster Harriers Bristol City immediately pushed forward for an early goal, only to be hit by a Daggers counter-attack. Albert Mulder latched onto a long header from Robert Garside, then dribbled past defender Ben Chorley to have a clear run on goal. With just the keeper Steve Griffiths left to beat, Mulder blasted the ball into the top corner for just his third Kidderminster goal! Our midfielders then took full control of the game 15 minutes later. Captain Lee Watson played an excellent pass to the feet of veteran Shaun Derry, who skipped past defender Darren Ward (no relation to our new reserve goalie) and duly doubled our advantage to 2-0! Derry tormented Bristol City again in the 30th minute, making a vital interception to stop Delroy Facey's chip from finding his strike partner Lomana Lua-Lua. This clearly riled Lua-Lua, whose temper eventually got the better of him eight minutes later. After we were awarded a rather dubious free-kick, the former Newcastle forward unleashed a torrent of abuse at the referee and was shown the red card! Having been reduced to 10 men, Gary's hosts could not get up to Speed again. Many spectators at Ashton Gate were already heading for home by the 58th minute, when a rocket from attacking midfielder Scott Simpson completed a 3-0 Harriers win. Bristol City - 0 Kidderminster Harriers - 3 (Mulder 1, Derry 16, S Simpson 58) Division 1, Attendance 12,251 - POSITIONS: Bristol City 24th, Kidderminster 11th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (4-4-2 Diamond): Preece; Berntsson (Kooistra), Redhe, Unai, T Simpson (Gray); Heikkinen; Watson (Howe), Derry; S Simpson; Garside, Mulder. BOOKED: T Simpson, Watson. Though right-back Billy Berntsson suffered a knee injury late on, it was otherwise the perfect match for us. Our third away win of the season also leaves us in a positive position - four points off the play-off places, but 15 clear of the bottom three! I don't think Kidderminster fans will have to worry about the threat of relegation this season! (Famous last words...)

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of September 2010) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Chesterfield 9 3 1 0 6 1 4 1 0 9 5 23 2nd Crewe 9 4 0 0 11 3 2 2 1 8 7 20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Torquay 9 5 0 0 13 2 1 1 2 3 4 19 4th Fulham 9 3 0 1 7 2 2 2 1 9 6 17 5th West Ham 9 3 2 0 6 1 1 2 1 6 4 16 6th Sheff Utd 9 4 0 1 15 5 1 1 2 2 6 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Grimsby 9 2 2 0 7 3 2 2 1 3 2 16 8th Nottm Forest 9 4 0 0 13 3 1 0 4 3 13 15 9th Tottenham 9 4 0 1 9 3 0 2 2 6 9 14 10th Dag & Red 9 2 3 0 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 14 11th Charlton 8 2 1 1 7 4 1 3 0 3 2 13 12th Kidderminster 9 3 1 1 10 3 1 0 3 1 5 13 13th Birmingham 9 2 0 2 8 8 2 1 2 13 13 13 14th Swindon 9 1 2 1 5 4 2 1 2 9 6 12 15th Huddersfield 9 0 1 3 1 4 3 2 0 8 4 12 16th W.B.A. 9 1 2 2 7 8 1 2 1 4 5 10 17th Preston 9 1 3 0 7 4 1 0 4 2 9 9 18th Sunderland 9 1 3 1 4 4 0 1 3 0 7 7 19th Norwich 9 1 2 2 10 11 0 1 3 6 14 6 20th Carlisle 9 1 2 1 7 4 0 1 4 1 13 6 21st Notts Co 9 0 3 2 3 5 0 2 2 5 11 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd Bristol City 9 0 1 3 1 8 1 1 3 3 12 5 23rd Aston Villa 8 0 3 2 6 10 0 1 2 1 3 4 24th Millwall 9 0 1 3 4 8 0 2 3 3 9 3 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Joe O'Shea scores five goals in five games as Manchester United storm to the top of the Premiership with a 100% record. The Red Devils look invincible... but not in the Champions League, where they suffer away defeats to both VfB Stuttgart and Lille. You know things are going badly when your attackers are being outsmarted by Martin Taylor and Djimi Traoré. Arsène Wenger insists that he does not see the Premiership table, even though it shows Arsenal in 15th place after the champions lose 2-1 at newly-promoted Bradford. Wenger also fails to see big summer signing Patrick Kluivert, who is left on the bench as Bantams midfielder Sebastian Larsson punches in a winner against his former club. Vegard Skogheim's tenure as Bayern München manager is off to a terrible start, with four straight defeats plunging the sleeping giants into the Bundesliga drop zone. Skogheim decides to gamble £2.5million on explosive striker Maksim Tsyhalka, who made only 80 appearances in eight years at Roma, despite scoring 60 goals for Belarus. Despite losing their Champions League opener at Liverpool, Celtic declare themselves as serious contenders by outclassing Valencia 3-2 at the Mestalla. The Bhoys' former Manchester United forward Paul Scholes is back on the big stage and soon proves that - even at the age of 35 - he still cannot tackle. England's new manager Sammy Lee inspires the Three Lions to beat Georgia 3-0 and Iceland 1-0 in their opening European Championship qualifiers. Meanwhile, Spain faces Wales again just two months after the World Cup Final, with La Furia Roja coming from 2-1 down to prevail 3-2 in a thrilling group opener in Cardiff. IN OTHER NEWS... In the battle of the Milibands, Ed narrowly beats his older brother David to become the new leader of the Labour Party. While David sulks off to New York, Ed sets about returning Labour to power after their election defeat in May... and the pro-Conservative Daily Mail starts looking for incriminating evidence against the Miliband family. Former Labour leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair releases his memoirs, and the reviews are... not great. One paragraph, in which Blair described making love to his wife Cherie on the night his predecessor John Smith died, is nominated by "Literary Review" magazine for its Bad Sex In Fiction prize. ITV premieres its new historical drama “Downton Abbey”, which tells the stories of an aristocratic family and their servants at a Yorkshire country house. The series takes place during the reign of King Edward V, whose son Bertie – the future George VI – tries to overcome his st-st-stammer in the new Colin Firth film “The King’s Speech”. Cheryl Tweedy refuses to fight for this love anymore and divorces her first husband Ashley Cole. The 27-year-old Girls Aloud singer seeks advice from Katie Price on how to sustain a long-term relationship.

SEPTEMBER 2010 I don't have much luck with goalkeepers. During my tenures at Dagenham & Redbridge and Kidderminster Harriers, I've signed so many custodians who either start off brightly before developing a taste for butterfingers, or who cover their gloves with Teflon as soon as they sign for the club. If a goalie makes it to a third season under my management, they practically deserve a testimonial. So far, the jury was out on my current first-choice keeper at Kidderminster - David Preece had been good, if not entirely convincing. His backup Gary Martin hadn't played since joining us from our League Cup conquerors Oldham in August, and he had limited experience at this high a level. As for Kent Ivarsson... he might be in his third season at Aggborough, but he's not exactly testimonial worthy. I still felt we needed another option in goal, in case Preece had a sudden drop in form and/or Martin turned out to be a flop. Enter Darren Ward - the 18-cap Wales goalkeeper who had made nearly 400 Football League appearances for Mansfield, Notts County, Nottingham Forest, Crewe and Southampton. Now in the twilight of his career at 36, Ward been a free agent since ending an unhappy 18-month spell at Spanish Segunda División side Salamanca in the summer. Ward was a brave shotstopper with good aerial reach, and he would be a steady pair of hands if required. Darren joined the club during the international break, which we spent hard at work on the training field after an uninspiring start to the Division 1 season. Ahead of our next match, I took some time out to talk tactics with another of our recent signings. Albert Mulder was the 19-year-old prodigy who arrived from Holland for £950,000 with great expectations, but his first four games had not produced any goals. Noticing his sublime technical ability and silky-smooth dribbling style, I suggested to Albert that he should try running with the ball a bit more. He needed to stop rushing into shots, and instead start taking on defenders with more confidence. I hoped Mulder would take my advice on board when we resumed our league campaign at Huddersfield on 11 September. With the intelligent Robert Garside serving as the number 10 to the out-and-out Dutch striker, and the clinical David Collins sitting just behind them in the 'hole', this Kidderminster strike force had devastating potential. 11 SEPTEMBER 2010: Huddersfield Town vs Kidderminster Harriers After 13 minutes, we began to realise that devastating potential. Left-back Alan Gray continued his bright start to the season with a brilliant near-post cross to David Collins, who flicked in his 75th league goal for Kidderminster. With that, Collins became the club's all-time leading league scorer, surpassing Ian Foster's previous record of 74! Collins tried to extend his new record in spectacular style after 36 minutes, but a bicycle kick from Robert Garside's chip was horribly fired deep into the stand. We then survived a couple of scares just before half-time, as a couple of strikes by Huddersfield forward Gavin Holligan narrowly cleared our crossbar. After the break, Albert Mulder looked to put his dribbling skills to the test - and finally get his first Harriers goal. Unfortunately, Simon Ellis had other ideas, as a couple of great saves from the on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper kept our Dutch teenager off the scoresheet... and kept Huddersfield in the contest. The Terriers ended the second period just as strongly as the first, and left-back Åge Nygård almost broke through with a powerful header in the 76th minute. David Preece saved the day with a confident catch, and he also stopped a last-minute effort from substitute midfielder Brendan Sweeney. Preece had preserved his clean sheet and secured us all three points, but boy did he have to work for them! Huddersfield Town - 0 Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Collins 13) Division 1, Attendance 11,172 - POSITIONS: Huddersfield 14th, Kidderminster 13th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Kooistra, Heikkinen, Unai; Morfitt, Gray; Watson, Derry (Brennan); Collins (S Simpson); Garside (Berry), Mulder. Not the most convincing win, but an encouraging one. If we could cut down on the hairy moments defensively, we could outclass a lot of teams in this division. A few days later, I watched the Under-18s in action. The team manager pointed me towards a gifted 17-year-old midfielder named Ray Bailey. "I've been with the Harriers for years, and this the best lad I've ever had," the coach said. "He's got great technique, good off-the-ball awareness, works hard too. This boy's going to the top, I just know it." However, the coach didn't tell me that Bailey was also rather... high-maintenance. The boy's father doubled up as his agent, and when we discussed a professional contract, Bailey senior demanded we pay his son no less than £5,000 per week - a higher wage than most of our first-teamers. If we didn't oblige, Ray's old man threatened to take him to Birmingham instead. After some tough negotiations, we eventually compromised, agreeing a four-year deal worth £4,000 per week. Bailey's first professional deal had put him on senior wages straight away, though I made it clear to the young lad that he had to prove himself in the reserves first before he would get a chance with the big boys. Next up for the big boys was a home game against fellow mid-tablers Preston, for which I named the same XI that had battled past Huddersfield. Bradley Howe - another 17-year-old midfielder with a bright future - was on the bench, and so was Swedish right-back Billy Berntsson following his recovery from a groin strain. 15 SEPTEMBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Preston North End Vice-captain Adrian Morfitt defended superbly in the 6th minute, putting Preston's attacking midfielder Ilias Androutsos under just enough pressure to send a header wide. Sadly, disaster struck our right wing-back just nine minutes later, when a gashed leg brought his game to an end. With little time to warm up, Billy Berntsson was already having to come on for his first league appearance this season. Not to worry! Though Preston captain Paul McKenna hypnotised David Collins into conceding possession in the 26th minute, he didn't count on Unai intercepting the ball and playing a brilliant ball over the Lilywhites' defence. Collins ran onto the ball, controlled it superbly, and then unleashed a vicious shot into the top corner! David Moyes' visitors had already spurned several scoring opportunities before Collins' opener, and their struggles in front of the goal continued into the second half. A great chance arose for Preston legend David Healy in the 61st minute, but the Northern Irishman horribly miscued it. Healy's woes continued in the 77th minute, when Kidderminster captain Lee Watson beat him to a through-ball from Preston midfielder Jamie McKenzie. Watson drove the ball out left to Alan Gray, who controlled it with his chest and then floated it deep into the penalty area. And who should pop up with a match-winning header but young Albert Mulder, who in his sixth Harriers game had AT LAST scored his maiden goal! A 2-0 win was secured, but not before some injury-time controversy denied us a third goal. 17-year-old Bradley Howe had dribbled into the Kidderminster box when he was cynically wiped out by visiting defender Colin Drew, yet the referee waved play on! It was then that I realised - the referee was Mark Pericles, who had made so many dodgy calls against us when we played Charlton back in April. Just as well this one didn't make any difference to the result, eh? Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Collins 28, Mulder 77) Preston North End - 0 Division 1, Attendance 7,192 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 10th, Preston 16th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Kooistra, Heikkinen, Unai; Morfitt (Berntsson), Gray; Watson, Derry; Collins (Graham); Garside (Howe), Mulder. A second win in a row left us just two points off the play-off places - and with Mulder finally off the mark, things were looking even brighter. Unfortunately, a gashed leg had ruled Adrian Morfitt out for the next fortnight, which meant Berntsson would need to sharpen up quickly. Ahead of our next league match at Fulham, I watched the reserve team take on their Cottagers counterparts. Ray Bailey had a mixed debut for the reserves, showing some very good touches but also squandering possession quite regularly. A more promising performance came from target man Alan Scott, who was now finally back in action after undergoing knee surgery in June. Though Alan didn't score, he still played a big role in securing a 1-1 draw. So, how would the senior team fare when we went to Craven Cottage a few days later? This would be a stern test against 8th-placed Fulham, especially as Garry Hill appeared to have rectified the defensive issues that almost got them relegated last season. 18 SEPTEMBER 2010: Fulham vs Kidderminster Harriers Albert Mulder was on a high after breaking his Kidderminster duck, but this wouldn't be such a lucky day for the youngster. In the first seven minutes, he fired Scott Simpson's through-ball over the crossbar, and also had a free-kick blocked by the Fulham wall. He did get three shots on target later in the first half, but they were all well saved by Wayne Hudson in the Cottagers goal. In fact, Mr Hudson went 'supernova' on any and every shot we sent his way. Simpson saw his brilliant shot repelled by the former Wolves and Tottenham custodian in the 26th minute, while David Collins was denied just before half-time. And with George McCartney at the heart of a rock-solid back three, it would take something incredible to break the deadlock. After 49 minutes, it took something incredible to break the deadlock. From the right wing, Fulham's Jamaican international Dane Richards unleashed a stunning cross that was met by an even sweeter volley from the Cottagers' Greek god Anestis Agritis. David Preece had not done much wrong in the Harriers goal, but even he was left helpless as Agritis' rocket sailed past him. It was a goal worthy of winning any match - and no matter what we tried, that wouldn't change here. Hudson remained almost unstoppable, except when David Collins did beat him with a header from Billy Berntsson in the 78th minute. Sadly, Collins was denied his third goal in as many games by an offside flag against Robert Garside, whose lack of awareness cost us our best chance of taking anything back home. Fulham - 1 (Agritis 49) Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 10,737 - POSITIONS: Fulham 5th, Kidderminster 10th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Kooistra, Heikkinen, Unai; Berntsson, Gray (T Simpson); Watson (Howe), Derry; S Simpson (Garside); Collins, Mulder. BOOKED: Unai. It was just... [say the line...] ...one of those games. We could have played for 180 minutes, and Fulham's defence still wouldn't have relented. By contrast, Carlisle had hit the headlines by demolishing Norwich 6-2 for their first win of the season. Their £750,000 summer signing Kevin O'Donnell scored FIVE goals - his first five goals for the Cumbrians! As you can probably guess, Carlisle were the next team to take on the Harriers, on a warm Friday night at Aggborough. Given their hitherto shaky start to the campaign, and our unbeaten record at home, this was the kind of match most people would expect us to win. Anything other than three points, and serious questions would need to be answered. 24 SEPTEMBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Carlisle United Robert Garside copped most of the flak for the Fulham defeat, and so he was especially keen to make up for it. In the ninth minute, the centre-forward skilfully dribbled past a couple of Carlisle defenders, including another Wales one-cap wonder in Danny Collins, who gashed his leg while trying to tackle him. As Collins writhed on the floor hurt, Garside carried on before capping his move with a lethal opening strike! While Danny Collins' game was over, David Collins was still going strong for Kidderminster. At the 15-minute mark, David's cross into the Carlisle box was met by a weak clearance from ex-Senegal defender Ousmane Diop. The first man onto the loose ball was Kiddy captain Lee Watson, who then weighted a lovely pass for Garside to score his second goal! And Rob wasn't finished there! Garside completed his hat-trick in the 31st minute, burying Shaun Derry's low cross to completely break Carlisle's spirit. He was also involved in a fourth goal about three minutes before half-time, returning the favour to Watson as our young skipper hammered home his first strike of the season! Garside got a deserved rest at half-time, with 18-year-old Jamie Berry replacing him up front for the second half. A firm tackle from Jamie Richardson in the 48th minute denied Berry the chance to get onto the scoresheet, but Watson converted the rebound to make it 5-0 anyway. Mercifully for Carlisle, the goalscoring ended there, though they tried to add some respectability to the scoreline later. Substitute striker Simon Lynch did find the net from one of their few counter-attacks in the 63rd minute, but he was flagged offside from Richard Cooper's right-wing cross. That scare aside, it had been a great afternoon for the clinical Harriers, scoring five goals from just seven shots! Kidderminster Harriers - 5 (Garside 9,15,31, Watson 42,48) Carlisle United - 0 Division 1, Attendance 7,201 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 6th, Carlisle 19th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Redhe (Bell), Heikkinen, Unai; Berntsson, T Simpson; Watson (Brennan), Derry; Collins; Garside (Berry), Mulder. Five goals in our first seven matches... and then five goals in 48 minutes. Football's a funny old game, isn't it? While this victory only put us in the play-off places for less than a day, we were already making plans to return. We finished the month with another home game against Crewe, who had made a strong start in their pursuit of an immediate return to the Premiership. Graeme Souness' Railwaymen had scored 17 goals in just eight games, with Lee McCulloch leading the way on five goals. 29 SEPTEMBER 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Crewe Alexandra After just 12 minutes, Lee Watson thought he had scored his third goal in two games. The Kidderminster skipper smashed in a low cross from right-back Billy Berntsson, who was unfortunately in an offside position when he received the ball from David Collins. Would that cost us? Thankfully, not in the first half. Crewe's new striker Dave Kitson had only scored once in nine games since his summer transfer from Cambridge United, and his lack of confidence showed in the 31st minute, when he glanced David Vaughan's cross wide. Kitson tried again in the 33rd minute, only to be thwarted first by a David Preece save and then a Shaun Derry clearance. The outcome was still anyone's guess as we headed into the second half. Three minutes after the restart, a handball from visiting midfielder Ian Jones gave us a free-kick just 25 yards from goal. Albert Mulder was eager to prove himself and strongly fancied his chances from the free-kick... and his confidence was justified, as a stunning effort swerved sweetly into the postage stamp! 1-0 to the Harriers! But while one Dutchman had given us the lead, another would soon lose it. I'd brought Frank Kooistra into our defence after Simon Bell picked up a yellow card, but the on-loan Notts County defender struggled to settle into the game. After 69 minutes, he was beaten to a Paul Murray cross by Kitson, whose determination finally paid off with a great headed finish. Having drawn back level, Crewe now had the momentum to push for a late winner. Surprisingly, they didn't get another shot on target until the 90th minute, when Kitson's attempted lob was easily caught by David Preece. But then Preece's long punt upfield was intercepted by Wales midfielder Vaughan, who dribbled past Kooistra's challenge before blasting in an unstoppable strike. The Railwaymen had snatched all three points, shattering our unbeaten home record in the process. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Mulder 48) Crewe Alexandra - 2 (Kitson 69, Vaughan 90) Division 1, Attendance 7,231 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 12th, Crewe 2nd KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Bell (Kooistra), Heikkinen, Unai; Berntsson, Gray; Watson, Derry (Brennan); Collins (S Simpson); Garside, Mulder. BOOKED: Bell. We didn't play badly at all, but it was those moments of pure quality that show why Crewe are genuine automatic promotion contenders - and why we still have some way to go. Mulder had shown plenty of promise in his first full month at Kidderminster - bagging two goals, one assist, and the Division 1 Young Player of the Month award. Everybody knows that Albert is such a precocious talent, but we now need a team (and a tactic) that can make full use of it.

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of August 2010) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Birmingham 4 2 0 0 6 2 2 0 0 7 5 12 2nd Chesterfield 4 2 0 0 5 1 1 1 0 5 4 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Nottm Forest 4 2 0 0 7 0 1 0 1 2 4 9 4th Fulham 4 2 0 0 5 0 1 0 1 2 2 9 5th Crewe 4 2 0 0 6 2 1 0 1 4 4 9 6th Grimsby 4 1 1 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Dag & Red 4 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 8 8th Swindon 4 0 1 1 3 4 2 0 0 6 1 7 9th Torquay 4 2 0 0 6 1 0 0 2 1 3 6 10th West Ham 4 1 1 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 6 11th Charlton 3 1 0 0 4 2 0 2 0 1 1 5 12th Huddersfield 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 3 1 5 13th Tottenham 4 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 5 7 4 14th Sheff Utd 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 1 1 0 4 4 15th Kidderminster 4 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 4 4 16th Aston Villa 3 0 2 0 5 5 0 1 0 1 1 3 17th Notts Co 4 0 1 1 1 2 0 2 0 3 3 3 18th Carlisle 4 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 3 19th Norwich 4 0 1 1 4 5 0 1 1 3 5 2 20th W.B.A. 4 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 4 2 21st Preston 4 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 4 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd Sunderland 4 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 5 2 23rd Bristol City 4 0 0 2 0 6 0 1 1 1 4 1 24th Millwall 4 0 0 2 3 5 0 0 2 0 5 0 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... A Steven Gerrard screamer earns Liverpool a 1-0 win over Premiership champions Arsenal in the Community Shield. Nigel Winterburn's Reds then outclass his former club 3-1 in the league, with Michael Owen scoring twice to heap further misery on an injury-ravaged Gunners team who have to play 18-year-old debutant Sean Jordan in goal. After the match, Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger shrugs, "Maybe Sean will be ready in 2014." After a year in Japan, Emile Heskey returns to English football as the new player-manager of Blackburn. The 32-year-old scores just 22 minutes into his debut at Bradford, but Rovers lose 3-2 before being overwhelmed 3-0 by Ipswich, leaving them in the Premiership relegation zone. There are some unfamiliar names at the top of Ligue 1 after just five matches. Strasbourg and Rennes - two teams who usually finish in the bottom half - each win four of their opening fixtures, with Rennes grinding out a shock 1-0 victory over Marseille! Most of the credit goes to Les Rennais' goalkeeper Yury Tsyhalka - brother of Maksim. After saving Celta from relegation last season, David O'Leary kicks off his first full season in Vigo with a 5-1 La Liga demolition of Athletic Bilbao. Under-fire striker Benedict McCarthy returns to form with two goals, convincing O'Leary that he maybe doesn't need to sign Robbie Keane after all... Having spent years badgering his old boss O'Leary for a transfer, Mark Viduka finally gets his wish - and leaves Leeds to sign for West Brom. The 34-year-old Australian scores twice in his first three games, but defensive issues see the Baggies drop to 20th in the Division 1 table. Be careful what you wish for, Mark! IN OTHER NEWS... Seven years after ousting Saddam Hussein from power, the United States withdraws its last combat troops from Iraq as President Barack Obama declares an end to military operations in the country. The war in Afghanistan, however, is a different matter. Cricket is rocked by a new scandal, as the News of the World claims that England’s Test match against Pakistan at Lord’s was fixed. Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif are accused of accepting bribes from a bookmaker, instructing Amir and Asif to deliberately throw ‘no-balls’ at specific points. Katy Perry sets off fireworks on her second pop album “Teenage Dream”, which will eventually make her the first female artist to have five US number 1 singles from the same record. The California gurl brings out her whipped-cream guns in celebration. BBC sitcom “Last of the Summer Wine” is retired after 37 years on the air, and ITV’s cop drama “The Bill” is arrested after 26 years. Meanwhile, Channel 4 finally evict “Big Brother” from their schedule about half a decade too late.

AUGUST 2010 Before our Division 1 opener against Aston Villa on 14 August, we rounded off our pre-season with a couple more West Midlands derbies. The first of those was at the Bescot Stadium against Walsall, who were playing Division 1 football as recently as 2007 but finished a dismal 19th in Division 3 last season. Lee Watson might have taken the captaincy on a full-time basis, but it was Adrian Morfitt who led us out onto the turf. The 25-year-old winger's attitude was a positive influence on the team, and a strong showing here would cement his status as our new vice-captain. 3 AUGUST 2010: Walsall vs Kidderminster Harriers Our two teenage strikers got off to a great start, as Paul Graham set up an opening goal for Jamie Berry after just 13 minutes. However, we failed to build on that, and Walsall hit back in the second half. After having a goal disallowed for offside, a couple of quickfire strikes from Marlon Harewood and John McPherson gave the Saddlers a shock 2-1 lead. It took another Berry goal - a diving header from a long ball by captain Lee Watson - to even save us a draw. Walsall - 2 (Harewood 53, McPherson 56) Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Berry 13,70) Friendly, Attendance 6,085 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece (Baardsen); Heikkinen (Redhe), Kooistra (Bell), Unai; Morfitt (Berntsson), Gray (T Simpson); Howe (Watson), Brennan (Derry); S Simpson (Garside); Graham (Collins), Berry. That was embarrassing. Walsall had so many chances in this game that I honestly couldn't figure out which team was playing in Division 1 - and which was down in the Football League basement. Our last match before the big kick-off was at home to Coventry, who won the Division 1 play-offs last season and were now back in the Premiership. We might have won our last meeting with the Sky Blues back in December, but John Toshack's side would test us to our limits. 7 AUGUST 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Coventry City Unsurprisingly, it was Coventry's greater class which won the day here. Veteran midfielder Peter Gain might have hit the post in the 25th minute, but the Sky Blues did gain a goal four minutes later, courtesy of his much younger colleague Adam Howell. We then launched a string of direct attacks in the second half, only to be consistently thwarted by some outstanding goalkeeping from 35-year-old Andy Marshall. Another experienced City player - Peru striker Ysrael Zuniga - then secured victory with a great finish 14 minutes from the end. Though Coventry lost the promising 17-year-old defender Mark Bell to injury, it was an otherwise good day for our visitors... and a rather frustrating one for us. Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Coventry City - 2 (Howell 29, Zuniga 76) Friendly, Attendance 1,400 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Defensive): Preece (Baardsen); Redhe, Kooistra (S Simpson), Unai; Berntsson (Morfitt), Heikkinen (Fowler), T Simpson (Gray); Watson (Howe), Derry (Brennan); Garside (Graham), Collins (Berry). Pre-season summary: two wins, two draws, two defeats... and our top scorer David Collins couldn't hit a barn door. Oh, and our defenders Billy Berntsson and Simon Bell both picked up training injuries that would put them out of our opening league games. I'm not worried at all, don't be ridiculous! While there were worrying signs at senior level, there was some encouraging news from the Kidderminster youth team, with two players being promoted to the reserves. 16-year-old Sean Beesley was a quick and astute sweeper, but I was more excited about Stephen Pearce - an 18-year-old striker who was big, strong and could finish clinically with either foot. So, what would happen on the opening day, when the once-mighty Aston Villa made the short trip from Birmingham to Worcestershire? The Villans might have finished down in 18th last season, but having avoided a shock relegation to Division 2, they were eager to make a fresh start in Ian Holloway's first full campaign as manager. 14 AUGUST 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Aston Villa David Preece had a busy league debut in the Kidderminster goal, and the 34-year-old started well, saving a couple of dangerous early efforts from Aston Villa striker Graeme McCulloch. He was required to make another important save in the 21st minute, after Adam Sheppard had been tripped in the Harriers area by Adrian Morfitt. Unfortunately, Preece was unable to keep out a well-taken penalty from right-back Simon Roberts, which put the Villans 1-0 up. Morfitt's foul got him a yellow card - and a couple more Kidderminster players would lose their discipline just two minutes later. Jim Brennan was penalised for a clumsy challenge on Scott Douglas, and Kiddy captain Lee Watson reacted angrily to what he saw as a dive from Villa's attacking midfielder. Both Jim and Lee were cautioned, and we had to be really careful now. Watson eventually calmed down, and it was him who got us back into the game five minutes from half-time. Just moments after Preece had saved a shot from Douglas that could have sent us 2-0 behind, we won a corner at the other end. Watson swung it into the box, where David Collins' header levelled the scores! He might not have found the net in pre-season, but Dave had gone big when it mattered most! I took off both Morfitt and Brennan at half-time to avoid them picking up any further bookings. Ironically, Morfitt's replacement Terry Simpson got himself a yellow card in the 57th minute for shoving Sheppard. The Villans weren't exactly angels either, with a couple of their midfielders also going into the book. They almost won the game late on as well, with only Preece's left-hand post keeping out an excellent strike from substitute Ryan Williams - and saving us an opening-day draw. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Collins 40) Aston Villa - 1 (Roberts pen21) Division 1, Attendance 6,637 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 13th, Aston Villa 11th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Heikkinen, Kooistra, Unai; Morfitt (T Simpson), Gray; Watson, Brennan (Derry); Collins (S Simpson); Garside, Berry. BOOKED: Morfitt, Brennan, Watson, T Simpson. A point - at least that's a better start than we had last season! But the strongest starters were Chris Kamara's Torquay, who thrashed Sunderland 4-0! Unbelievable, Jeff! Sensing that we were still a top-tier striker away from being a formidable team, I decided to make one more summer transfer. Instead of sniffing around for bargains or loans, I decided to go all-in - and smash my transfer record. Albert Mulder was a 19-year-old striker whose combination of pace, power and technique had torn up the Dutch lower leagues. After scoring 28 goals in just 35 matches for Omniworld last season, he had come on our radar - so when Ligue 1 giants Auxerre invoked his £950,000 release clause, I knew we had to match it. While the lure of developing at one of France's top clubs was no doubt attractive to Mulder, we won him over with the promise of regular first-team football. After signing a six-year contract worth £7,750 per week, the young Dutch destroyer was officially a Kidderminster Harrier. Mulder's arrival coincided with a wrist injury for his countryman Frank Kooistra, further limiting our defensive options for our trip to Chesterfield. That meant a rare start for Swedish centre-back Tobias Redhe, who had a difficult first season at Kidderminster and now needed to show he was ready for regular first-team football. 21 AUGUST 2010: Chesterfield vs Kidderminster Harriers Despite a promising start to his Kidderminster career, David Preece's away debut did not go as well as his home. The 13th minute was particularly unlucky for the veteran goalkeeper, who couldn't keep out Norwegian striker Lars Iver Strand's header from a cross by his compatriot Vegard Heggem. Five minutes later, Preece was beaten again - left flat-footed by a rather tame left-footed drive from midfielder Mark Boyd. Chesterfield then looked to kill the game off before half-time, and when Strand converted a flick-on from his strike partner Andy Rushbury, we were staring at a daunting 3-0 deficit. While it was hard to fault any of our defenders, Preece's poor positioning had left him horribly exposed. While the second half thankfully didn't see any more goals for Bryan Robson's Spireites, it was still a torturous one for us. Albert Mulder's Kidderminster bow was an utter damp squib, the Dutchman missing the target with all three of his shots. Neither Robert Garside nor his half-time replacement Jamie Berry could get going either, giving David Lucas an easy afternoon in the Chesterfield goal. Chesterfield - 3 (Strand 13,44, Boyd 18) Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 5,975 - POSITIONS: Chesterfield 4th, Kidderminster 21st KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Heikkinen, Redhe, Unai; Morfitt, T Simpson; Watson, Derry (Brennan); Collins; Garside (S Simpson), Mulder (Berry). Perhaps I should have spent £950,000 on yet another keeper, because David Preece's performance was shocking. What the hell is it with me and goalies? That result made it one victory in our last seven competitive matches. We were now under huge pressure to beat Oldham in Round 1 of the League Cup. Anything but a comfortable win at Boundary Park would send the alarm bells ringing. 24 AUGUST 2010: Oldham Athletic vs Kidderminster Harriers Espen Baardsen was our de jure number 1 - but if the Norwegian wanted to be our starting goalkeeper, he didn't show it in the sixth minute. Oldham bridged the two-division gap and took the lead when midfielder Robert Mambo Mumba's cross was blasted home by captain Dennis Oli, catching Baardsen completely unawares. After the Latics' keeper Gary Martin saved a series of Kidderminster shots later in the first half, I began to wonder where an equaliser could possibly come from. By injury time, I finally had an answer. 18-year-old Jamie Berry played a clever one-two with his even younger colleague Bradley Howe - and the emerging midfielder drove home his first senior goal, aged just 17! Alas, Oldham took the lead again in the 60th minute. The Harriers defence struggled to deal with a Matty Doughty corner, leading to Mambo Mumba scoring a header that Baardsen really should've done a better job of saving. Our frustrations only increased in the 63rd minute, when Martin confidently claimed a cross from left-back Terry Simpson, who was still trying to recapture his excellent form from last season. Our inspiration would need to come from the other wing. A minute later, right-back Adrian Morfitt launched a long throw to the edge of Oldham's penalty area, where 19-year-old Paul Graham volleyed in a stunning equaliser! Was that the turning point? Noooo. Oldham had a third goal brewing in the 75th minute, when Sierra Leone international Aluspah Brewah thundered Andy Thomas' right-wing cross in off the crossbar. There would be no Kiddy leveller this time, as another Martin save kept substitute Albert Mulder off the scoreboard in the 89th minute, helping Andy Ritchie's hosts to secure a shock 3-2 win. Oldham Athletic - 3 (Oli 6, Mambo Mumba 60, Brewah 75) Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Howe 45, Graham 64) League Cup Round 1, Attendance 6,319 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (4-4-2): Baardsen; Derry, Heikkinen, Redhe, T Simpson; Morfitt, Howe, Brennan (Kooistra), Gray (S Simpson); Graham, Berry (Mulder). Pathetic. How the hell are we supposed to get anywhere if our goalies keep making such stupid mistakes? Espen Baardsen had been given his last chance, and he had blown it. After one clanger too many, his contract was terminated with immediate effect, and I began searching for my 68th different goalkeeper in nine years. Within days, I had concluded, "If you can't beat them, sign them." Gary Martin - the 28-year-old Oldham goalkeeper who had frustrated us at Boundary Park - was bought for the ludicrously cheap price of £40,000. He's not a great handler of the ball, but he's agile and at least has some sense of positional awareness. Next up was a home game against newly-relegated Sunderland, who were still reeling from the effects of their opening-day humiliation at Torquay. I'd outsmarted their new manager Roy Keane a few times in the past, but could I do it again? 28 AUGUST 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Sunderland Sunderland's journeyman goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen saved a couple of early attempts from our star forward David Collins - but stopping his strike partner proved a different challenge. Collins ran the Mackems defence ragged as he dribbled into the penalty area before setting up a tap-in for Robert Garside. For the first time this season, Kidderminster were leading in a match! To add to Roy Keane's woes, his left-winger Lee Brown had suffered a game-ending shin injury during the move that led to Garside's goal. An early substitution was required, unsettling any sense of rhythm Sunderland might have had. Albert Mulder could have taken advantage, but a couple of poor misses meant the Dutchman's wait for a first Harriers goal would continue. Keane must have brought out the hairdryer at half-time, because Sunderland looked rather more threatening in the second period. A vicious 48th-minute drive from right-winger Luke Chadwick hit the bar, while striker Michael Dunwell's header in the 62nd minute forced David Preece into a save. The Black Cats' momentum soon fizzled out, though, and while there were a few nervy moments in the final half-hour, we were still good value for a 1-0 win. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Garside 15) Sunderland - 0 Division 1, Attendance 7,198 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 14th, Sunderland 22nd KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Bell (Kooistra), Heikkinen, Unai; Morfitt, Gray; Watson (Howe), Derry; Collins; Garside, Mulder (Graham). BOOKED: Unai. After a vital first win of the season, our focus shifted towards getting a second in the space of three days. On Bank Holiday Monday, we returned to my old stomping ground at Dagenham & Redbridge, who had kicked off their season with a 1-0 win and a couple of 0-0 draws. That's Willy Wordsworth for you! 30 AUGUST 2010: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Kidderminster Harriers Willy Wordsworth's 5-3-2 was notoriously difficult for opposition teams to break down, and we had similar problems in the first half. Albert Mulder came close with a couple of efforts in the 27th and 28th minute, but still missed the target with each of them. Though Mulder did get his next two shots on target later on, the Dutchman's fourth game for Kidderminster would sadly produce as many goals as his previous three. Then, in the 56th minute, Watson finally broke the deadlock. Unfortunately, it wasn't our captain Lee Watson who scored, but the Dagenham striker Peter Watson. At the end of a devastating counter-attack, the Scotsman controlled a beautiful cross from Sebastian Helbig and volleyed in his second goal for the Daggers since his July transfer from Notts County. And that was the game. The Daggers shut up shop for the final half-hour, and David Navarro was particularly dominant at the heart of their defence. Another disappointing day out for the Harriers ended with two quickfire yellow cards for Mulder and Terry Simpson, which were literally the only things we had to show for our efforts. Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Watson 56) Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 7,610 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 7th, Kidderminster 15th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece; Bell (Kooistra), Heikkinen, Unai; Derry, T Simpson; Watson, Brennan; S Simpson (Collins); Graham, Mulder. BOOKED: Mulder, T Simpson. Another frustrating performance meant we'd taken four points from our first four league matches. That's four more than we had 12 months ago, which is progress at least, but I was hoping for a little bit more. Oh, and if you're wondering how Mulder has done since joining Kidderminster? In four matches, he has had a total of 11 shots, 3 on target... and zero goals. That's what 950 thousand pounds gets you, apparently.

Kidderminster Harriers squad - Start of 2010/2011 season GOALKEEPERS 1. Espen Baardsen - GK, age 32, Norwegian [9 caps] Baardsen's Kiddy career got off to a gloomy start with some rusty performances. However, the veteran has upped his game in recent months and is starting to win me over. 13. Kent Ivarsson - GK, age 26, Swedish I'm afraid that Ivarsson is our third-choice goalkeeper for a reason. Though capable of claiming aerial balls, he lacks the agility or reflexes to be a reliable shotstopper. 26. David Preece - GK, age 33, English Preece is perhaps the bravest, most agile keeper to come out of Sunderland since Jim Montgomery. Having played nearly 300 league games, he knows all about handling pressure. DEFENDERS 2. Unai - SW/D C, age 33, Spanish [1 cap] Sol Campbell might have taken the plaudits, but Unai was an equally important defensive addition last season. The Basque centre-back is intelligent, determined and remarkably strong. 3. Terry Simpson - D L, age 22, English Simpson has continued to flourish into one of the Football League's best young full-backs. He's great at starting counter-attacks and strong in the tackle - perhaps a little too strong. 4. Simon Bell - D C, age 26, English Ex-Dagenham stopper Bell is an authoritative aerial presence and has the stamina to outlast opposition defenders. However, there are some question marks over his consistency. 5. Tobias Redhe - D C, age 26, Swedish Redhe played only 12 times in his first Harriers season, but he should play a more prominent role this season. The Swede's leadership and man-marking abilities have caught my eyes. 6. Markus Heikkinen - D/DM C, age 31, Finnish [15 caps, 2 goals] Where would we be without Heikkinen - the ice-cool glue who holds our defence together? His never-say-die attitude typifies the fighting spirit of this team. 17. Billy Berntsson - D R, age 26, Swedish Berntsson has developed into one of our top performers. Though not particularly quick for a right-back, his strong tackling and pinpoint passing can rapidly turn defence into attack. 21. Frank Kooistra - D RC, age 21, Dutch Kooistra is a promising defender on a season-long loan from Grimsby. Despite a few pre-season wobbles, I'm sure his marking abilities and positional awareness will make him tough to beat. MIDFIELDERS 7. Adrian Morfitt - AM R, age 25, English Morfitt missed the final three months of last season with a serious knee injury. The hard-working winger/wing-back has a point to prove, and the vice-captaincy should spur him on. 12. Shaun Derry - D/DM RC, age 32, English Derry isn't very flashy, but the fearless holding midfielder has shown once again why he's an Aggborough icon. Nobody can take a killer set-piece quite like him. 14. Lee Watson - M C, age 23, English This could be a career-defining season for our new captain Watson. The tireless playmaker is desperate to put his injury woes to bed and establish his place in midfield. 15. Jim Brennan - D/M LC, age 33, Canadian [67 caps, 3 goals] Brennan arrives from Coventry with 14 years' worth of Football League experience. The Ontario native is a versatile player who's as equally capable in defence as he is in midfield. 16. Scott Simpson - AM C, age 27, Scottish When Simpson is hot, this Scot is red-hot. It's a shame that the enigmatic and creative attacking midfielder doesn't show that kind of form consistently enough. 18. Bradley Howe - D/DM C, age 17, English Howe made eight appearances last season and is now ready for more first-team chances. He has the energy and drive to be a great box-to-box player once he develops his technique. 19. Alan Gray - AM L, age 24, Northern Irish [capped at Under-21s level] Gray is technically good with either foot, and he can rip defences apart with his crossing abilities. The Ulsterman is just very unlucky to be behind Terry Simpson in the pecking order. FORWARDS 9. Jamie Berry - S C, age 18, English Despite his tender years, Berry already has a promising record of 13 goals in 51 competitive games. His finishing ability is not in question, but his overall game still needs to develop. 10. Robert Garside - F C, age 24, Welsh [1 cap] Garside has not yet fulfilled his potential, but I suspect that might be about to change. Quick in his head and with his feet, it's time for him to make the number 10 jersey his own. 11. Paul Graham - S C, age 19, Scottish Graham is a rapid striker with a powerful long shot in his arsenal. After finding the net eight times last season, I'm now looking to send the Scottish teenager out on loan. 23. Alan Scott - S C, age 23, English Injury-prone target man Scott scored 21 goals in the 2007/2008 season but has not looked the same force since. After going under the knife in June, he's approaching a career crossroads. 31. David Collins - F C, age 29, English Collins isn't quite as ruthless as he was in Division 2, but he still hit 14 goals last term. Soon to turn 30, he has recently been converted from a pacey striker into an attacking midfielder. RESERVES DEFENDERS: Kevin Fitzgerald (20), Paul Fowler (21), Ryan McCann (17) MIDFIELDERS: Graham Hutchison (17), Simon Quinn (18), Alan Rice (19) FORWARD: John McQuade (17)

ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Brazil are the last South Americans standing at the World Cup in Argentina, but their dreams end in a shock 1-0 defeat to Russia in the Quarter Finals. Indeed, all four Semi Finalists are European nations who have never previously won the title. Spain see off Holland on penalties to book a date with fellow first-time finalists Wales, who defeat Russia thanks to a 79th-minute winner from 20-year-old Everton midfielder Jason Barton. Despite being the first British team to play in a World Cup Final since 1966, the Welsh fairytale doesn't have a happy ending in Buenos Aires. Mark Hughes' Red Dragons are outclassed in the first half, as Diego Tristán gives Spain a 2-0 lead before Bolton's Robert Earnshaw pulls a goal back. Valencia striker Roberto Peragón then comes off the bench to seal a historic 3-1 win for La Furia Roja, who shake off their tag as international football's great underachievers. England manager David Seaman sacrifices both his ponytail and his job after a disappointing World Cup. Burnley boss 'Big' Sam Allardyce is the bookmakers' favourite to take over... but the FA instead give the job to 'Little' Sammy Lee of Wolves. After 12 years at Barcelona, Dutch destroyer Patrick Kluivert celebrates his 34th birthday by completing a £2.8million transfer to Arsenal. Meanwhile, former Brazil and Inter hotshot Ronaldo signs for Ajax, though 'O Fenômeno' narrowly escapes a papercut when signing the contract. Bundesliga champions Dortmund smash their transfer record by re-signing VfB Stuttgart playmaker Tomas Rosicky for £19million... three-and-a-half years after selling the Czech international for just £6.5million. Serie A scudetto holders Lazio also bring out the chequebook, spending a combined £20million on São Paulo midfielder Kaká and Bolton defender Andrea Barzagli. IN OTHER NEWS... Five lads from across the British Isles fail in their auditions for ITV's singing competition "The X Factor". However, Simon Cowell suggests that they should try again as a quintet... and so Harry, Liam, Louis, Zayn and The Other One form a boy band called One Direction. It's a great month for British boy bands, as Robbie Williams announces he is rejoining Take That for the first time in 15 years. He and his mates celebrate by going out rowing. The north-east of England is gripped by a week-long manhunt for 37-year-old Raoul Moat, who shot one person dead and wounded two others shortly after being released from Durham Prison. After a six-hour stand-off with police in Northumberland - which includes a bizarre intervention from Paul Gascoigne - Moat takes his own life. The snooker world mourns the loss of legendary two-time world champion Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, aged 61. The Northern Irishman was hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s because of his fast play and maverick personality, though he had various struggles with drugs, alcohol and gambling throughout his career.

JULY 2010 On 5 July, the Kidderminster Harriers squad reconvened after their summer break - and began working towards their second consecutive season in Division 1. The club's only previous spell at this level had ended with relegation after the second season, but this squad was determined that history would not be repeated. There were two new signings in the first-team, with goalkeeper David Preece and midfielder Jim Brennan both providing plenty of experience in a squad that had an average age of just 24.5. One of our younger senior players - 23-year-old playmaker Lee Watson - would also feel like a new signing, having undergone three weeks of physiotherapy that had hopefully cured his chronic knee injuries. Only two players were absent from training on our first day back. Target man Alan Scott also had a long injury record and had undergone knee surgery in June, which meant he wouldn't be back in training until September at the earliest. More surprising, however, was that our captain Sol Campbell had gone absent. When I phoned him up later that afternoon, it all became clear. Sol was back home in London, having suddenly decided at the age of 35 that it was time to retire. While the 85-cap England defender had enjoyed his time at Kidderminster, he felt that he could not "adjust to the long-term nature of the project" and wanted to pursue some exciting business opportunities instead. Suffice to say, I felt betrayed - almost as much as Tottenham fans had felt in 2001. When Campbell signed for Kidderminster back in December, it was on the understanding that he would see out his full contract, until the end of the 2011/2012 season. If he had no desire to stay here for the long haul, why did he agree to sign for us in the first place? If there was any consolation, it was that we were no longer obliged to pay Campbell's £15,000-per-week contract. However, we now had to bring in someone to take his place at centre-back - and we had to identify a new captain, with both Barry Miller and Jeff Whitley also leaving us over the summer. To address the former, I signed the young Dutchman Frank Kooistra on a season-long loan from divisional rivals Grimsby. Kooistra was a strong and aggressive ball-playing centre-back, just a couple of weeks shy of his 21st birthday. Having started his career at Derby before moving to Lincolnshire, he headed all the way across the Midlands to add some fresh legs to our backline. As for who would be our new captain moving forward, that was rather less clear-cut. Wing-backs Alan Gray and Adrian Morfitt were our most natural leaders, but neither were regular starters. Our new keeper Preece was a more realistic choice, as was Welsh forward Robert Garside, who had just signed a long-term contract. However, for the first match of our pre-season training camp in the Republic of Ireland, I decided to give the armband to somebody else. Despite his tender years and injury doubts, I thought that Watson was mature enough to lead us out against Moyle Park College - a semi-professional team based in south Dublin. 17 JULY 2010: Moyle Park College vs Kidderminster Harriers Things got off to a good start after just nine minutes, when wing-back César Gallego won us a penalty which was expertly converted by Robert Garside. Gallego then set up a second goal on the stroke of half-time, as his low cross from the right flank was met by a strong finish from our new captain Lee Watson. Though we didn't increase our lead further in the second half, we were defensively solid and didn't allow Moyle Park a single shot on target. This was as comfortable as games went. Moyle Park College - 0 Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Garside pen9, Watson 44) Friendly, Attendance 1,460 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece (Baardsen); Bell, Kooistra (Redhe), Unai (Heikkinen); Gallego (Morfitt), Gray (T Simpson); Watson (Howe), Brennan (Derry); Collins; Garside (Graham), Berry (McQuade). Well... that was a good pre-season opener for once! Our attackers still looked rusty, but other than that, all the signs were positive. Right wing-back César Gallego got both assists in that game, which actually served as a triumphant send-off for the Spaniard's Harriers career. A day later, he was the subject of a £650,000 offer from Division 2 Wrexham - and with both Morfitt and Billy Berntsson ahead of Gallego in the pecking order, it made sense to cash in. Adios, César. Meanwhile, our pre-season continued against another semi-professional team in Dublin City, who finished 6th in Ireland's second division last season. Their manager was former Liverpool, Real Sociedad and Tranmere striker John Aldridge, who'd been at the helm for an impressive eight years. 21 JULY 2010: Dublin City vs Kidderminster Harriers Though Dublin City proved slightly trickier opponents than Moyle Park, we still managed to take a 2-0 lead before the break. Youth and experience came to the fore, as 19-year-old Paul Graham and then 31-year-old Markus Heikkinen got their names on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, a clumsy foul from Simon Bell allowed City's John Walsh to pull a goal back from the penalty spot in the 73rd minute. We did restore our two-goal advantage late on, though, thanks to a cool finish from 17-year-old newcomer John McQuade! Dublin City - 1 (Walsh pen73) Kidderminster Harriers - 3 (Graham 26, Heikkinen 45, McQuade 90) Friendly, Attendance 2,027 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Baardsen (Preece); Redhe, Heikkinen, Unai; Berntsson (Fowler), Gray (Fitzgerald); Watson (Howe), Derry (Brennan); S Simpson; Graham (Garside), Berry (McQuade). BOOKED: Gray, Bell. Reserve left-back Kevin Fitzgerald made a brief cameo in this match. The 20-year-old Irishman would remain in his homeland after our pre-season training camp, having agreed a season-long loan deal with the Cork-based club Mayfield Park. Fitzgerald's contract expires next summer, so this loan really is 'make or break' for him. Our final match in Ireland was a significant step up in class, as former League of Ireland champions Shelbourne hosted us at Tolka Park. Another familiar face was in the home dugout - none other than Arsenal legend Tony Adams! 25 JULY 2010: Shelbourne vs Kidderminster Harriers When Robert Garside scored a screamer after just two minutes, it looked like we would run away with this match. However, we wasted several opportunities to go further ahead in the first half - and Shelbourne took full advantage after the break. Tony Adams' side equalised in the 47th minute, when German midfielder Stefan Schwartz (not to be confused with Tony's ex-Arsenal team-mate Stefan Schwarz) sent a devastating ball into our area for Stephen Dobbie to volley home. We struggled to regain our composure, and the hosts struck again in stoppage time. Schwartz' shot was spilled by Kiddy keeper Kent Ivarsson, who watched on in horror as Tommy Turner's rebound shot completed a shock comeback from the Reds. Shelbourne - 2 (Dobbie 47, T Turner 90) Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Garside 2) Friendly, Attendance 2,019 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Baardsen (Ivarsson); Redhe (Unai), Kooistra, Bell (Heikkinen); Morfitt (Berntsson), T Simpson (Gray); Howe (Watson), Brennan (Derry); Collins; Garside (S Simpson), Graham (McQuade). BOOKED: T Simpson. Urgh, what a sour note to end our training camp. We weren't clinical enough when we had Shelbourne by the throat and rightly got punished. As we returned home, we learnt that we'd been drawn away to Oldham in Round 1 of the League Cup. The Latics had reached the Division 3 Playoff Final last season, so a visit to Boundary Park would not be easy at all. Six days later, Aggborough opened its doors for the first time this season, as top-flight Newcastle paid us a visit. This, of course, meant an early reunion with our former hero John Forde, who was now hoping to establish himself as the Magpies' new starting goalkeeper. 31 JULY 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Newcastle United Captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic might have been Newcastle's star attraction, but he was overshadowed by his young strike partner Craig McGregor, who dispatched Phil Jagielka's through-ball to open the scoring after just two minutes. We then had to survive a few more Magpies attacks before we gave John Forde his first test in the 35th minute. Alan Gray's cross was driven low towards goal by Scott Simpson, and Forde couldn't quite keep it out. Another early McGregor strike put Newcastle back ahead seven minutes into the second half. This time, we only needed four minutes to respond, as another devastating Gray cross from the left wing was finished by Robert Garside. Our Celtic connection had caused Brian Quinn's Geordies all sorts of problems, helping us to come away with a 2-2 draw! Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (S Simpson 35, Garside 56) Newcastle United - 2 (McGregor 2,52) Friendly, Attendance 1,658 KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Preece (Baardsen); Heikkinen, Bell (Kooistra), Unai (Redhe); Berntsson (Morfitt), Gray (T Simpson); Watson (Howe), Brennan (Derry); S Simpson; Garside (Graham), Collins (Berry). BOOKED: Unai. After an impressive result, I made an important announcement to make in the dressing room. Having assessed several potential leaders over our first four games of pre-season, I'd decided that Lee Watson would be the new full-time captain of Kidderminster Harriers. The young Yorkshireman looked stunned to have been given the honour, but I'd been very impressed with the maturity and determination he had shown over the past year. Giving Watson the captaincy would surely inspire him to take his game to another level, especially if those old injury problems were indeed in the rear-view mirror. Barely 15 months ago, Lee was being relegated from the Conference with Hucknall. Now, at the age of just 23, he would be leading Kidderminster into the new Division 1 season.

I forgot there was another nation who hated penalties even more than us. 2nd at Euro 2008, 3rd at World Cup 2010... maybe Euro 2012 will be Holland's time?

I want to cover CAF competitions in future (and AFC and OFC competitions as well). The main reason I haven't covered Africa yet is because there's only one African league in the main game right now (South Africa) - unless you download custom leagues. Also, FM will only load continental competition histories for clubs if their league is loaded in the same game, as I explained in the OP: To put it another way, adding competiton histories for African clubs is only worthwhile if you have their leagues loaded. Until SI include more African leagues in the game by default (and I hope they do in future) instead of you having to download them yourself, I'm afraid that very few people will benefit from this.

WORLD CUP REVIEW: ARGENTINA 2010 GROUP A 9 June (Buenos Aires) Argentina - 1 (Javier Saviola 63) Portugal - 1 (Carlos Martins 51) 9 June (Buenos Aires) Costa Rica - 0 Paraguay - 3 (Roque Santa Cruz 20,47, Nelson Cuevas 34, Carlos Humberto Paredes s/off50) 15 June (Santa Fé) Portugal - 2 (Nuno Gomes 53, Ramos 63) Costa Rica - 1 (Paulo Wanchope 62) 15 June (Rosario) Paraguay - 0 Argentina - 0 22 June (Avellaneda) Argentina - 3 (Esteban Cambiasso 8, Maximiliano Estéves 13, Gastón Casas 24) Costa Rica - 0 22 June (Rosario) Portugal - 1 (Ricardo Quaresma 71) Paraguay - 0 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Portugal 3 2 1 0 4 2 7 2nd Q Argentina 3 1 2 0 4 1 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Paraguay 3 1 1 1 3 1 4 4th Costa Rica 3 0 0 3 1 8 0 GROUP B 10 June (Santa Fé) Uruguay - 2 (Andrés Nicolás Oliveira 34, Diego Forlán 66) Senegal - 0 10 June (Rosario) Belgium - 0 (Pieter Collen s/off89) Spain - 1 (Fernando Torres 52) 16 June (Rosario) Spain - 3 (Diego Tristán 11,pen79, Andrés Iniesta 70) Uruguay - 0 16 June (Buenos Aires) Senegal - 0 Belgium - 3 (Thomas Buffel 9, Rory Hygelmeers 28, Emile Mpenza 45) 22 June (Buenos Aires) Senegal - 0 Spain - 3 (Andrés Iniesta 9, Raúl 31, José Antonio Reyes 74) 22 June (Rosario) Uruguay - 0 Belgium - 4 (Tim Reigel 11,63, Emile Mpenza 24,33) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Spain 3 3 0 0 7 0 9 2nd Q Belgium 3 2 0 1 7 1 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Uruguay 3 1 0 2 2 7 3 4th Senegal 3 0 0 3 0 8 0 GROUP C 11 June (Avellaneda) Nigeria - 0 (Joseph Yobo s/off19) Poland - 3 (Pawel Brozek 4, Marek Kowalski 24, Michal Zewlakow 54) 11 June (Avellaneda) France - 0 Greece - 0 17 June (Buenos Aires) Poland - 0 France - 0 17 June (Rosario) Greece - 1 (Pantelis Kafes 58) Nigeria - 2 (Nwankwo Kanu 5,88) 23 June (Buenos Aires) France - 4 (Jérémy Toulalan 2, David Trezeguet 36, Franck Ribéry 45, Thierry Henry 66, Sebastien Frey s/off72) Nigeria - 2 (Nwankwo Kanu 22, Peter Odemwingie pen73) 23 June (Santa Fé) Greece - 3 (Dimitris Papadopoulos 38, Giorgos Karagounis 45, Christos Patsatzoglou 72) Poland - 1 (Mariusz Lewandowski s/off1, Pawel Brozek 47) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q France 3 1 2 0 4 2 5 2nd Q Greece 3 1 1 1 4 3 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Poland 3 1 1 1 4 3 4 4th Nigeria 3 1 0 2 4 8 3 GROUP D 11 June (Buenos Aires) Saudi Arabia - 0 Mexico - 0 12 June (Rosario) Wales - 1 (Craig Bellamy 17) England - 0 19 June (Rosario) Mexico - 0 Wales - 0 19 June (Buenos Aires) England - 2 (Wayne Rooney 10, Wes Brown 63) Saudi Arabia - 1 (Talal Al-Meshal 6) 23 June (Avellaneda) Mexico - 1 (Oscar Mascorro 80) England - 1 (Joe Cole 81) 23 June (Rosario) Saudi Arabia - 0 Wales - 3 (Robert Evans 15,56,67) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Wales 3 2 1 0 4 0 7 2nd Q England 3 1 1 1 3 3 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Mexico 3 0 3 0 1 1 3 4th Saudi Arabia 3 0 1 2 1 5 1 GROUP E 12 June (Buenos Aires) Algeria - 0 South Korea - 3 (Du-Ri Cha 75, Young-Sam Kim 79, Eun-Joong Kim 83) 12 June (Buenos Aires) Brazil - 1 (João Carlos Dias 84) Croatia - 0 19 June (Santa Fé) Croatia - 2 (Igor Tudor 52, Ivica Olic m/pen72, Eduardo 79) Algeria - 0 19 June (Avellaneda) South Korea - 1 (Ji-Sung Park 86) Brazil - 2 (Ronaldinho 13, Robinho 33) 24 June (Buenos Aires) Brazil - 1 (Elano 37) Algeria - 0 24 June (Rosario) Croatia - 1 (Bosko Balaban 18) South Korea - 2 (Ki-Hyun Seol 44, Hwa-Pyung Yoon 87) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Brazil 3 3 0 0 4 1 9 2nd Q South Korea 3 2 0 1 6 3 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Croatia 3 1 0 2 3 3 3 4th Algeria 3 0 0 3 0 6 0 GROUP F 13 June (Rosario) Japan - 0 Burkina Faso - 1 (Beli Momouni Dagano 21) 14 June (Buenos Aires) Finland - 1 (Teemu Tainio 10) Holland - 2 (Mark van Bommel 70, Patrick Kluivert 74) 20 June (Avellaneda) Burkina Faso - 0 Finland - 2 (Keijo Huusko 17,20) 20 June (Buenos Aires) Holland - 3 (Mark van Bommel 7,67, Arjen Robben 64) Japan - 1 (Daisuke Matsui 55) 24 June (Rosario) Burkina Faso - 0 Holland - 3 (Rafael van der Vaart 43,61, Wilfred Bouma 83) 24 June (Buenos Aires) Japan - 1 (Yuji Nakazawa 42) Finland - 0 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Holland 3 3 0 0 8 2 9 2nd Q Finland 3 1 0 2 3 3 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Japan 3 1 0 2 2 4 3 4th Burkina Faso 3 1 0 2 1 5 3 GROUP G 14 June (Avellaneda) Germany - 1 (Tim Borowski 82) Russia - 0 14 June (Buenos Aires) Jamaica - 1 (Jermaine Johnson 63) Iran - 3 (Vahid Hashemian 20,61, Mohammad Gholami 90) 21 June (Buenos Aires) Russia - 4 (Kirill Kukushkin 10, Alexandr Kerzhakov 36, Alexandr Shirko 49, Sergey Semak 51) Jamaica - 2 (Jason Euell 33, David Johnson 59) 21 June (Rosario) Iran - 0 Germany - 3 (Stephan Winter 8,23, Tim Borowski 39) 25 June (Buenos Aires) Germany - 0 Jamaica - 1 (Leon Gordon 86) 25 June (Avellaneda) Russia - 4 (Kirill Kukushkin 36, Anzor Agapov 45, Dmitry Sychev 55, Igor Morev 90) Iran - 1 (Mohsen Bayatinia 68) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Germany 3 2 0 1 4 1 6 2nd Q Russia 3 2 0 1 8 4 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Iran 3 1 0 2 4 8 3 4th Jamaica 3 1 0 2 4 7 3 GROUP H 13 June (Rosario) Colombia - 2 (John Jairo Yepes 29, Falcao 69) Morocco - 0 (Khalid Boulahrouz s/off38) 13 June (Avellaneda) Denmark - 0 Italy - 2 (Marco Borriello 14, Filippo Sarti 90) 19 June (Rosario) Morocco - 0 Denmark - 3 (Anders Andersen 20, Thomas Gravesen 33,52) 20 June (Buenos Aires) Italy - 3 (Fausto Rossini 39, Andrea Pirlo 71, Mancini 90) Colombia - 1 (John Jairo Yepes 75) 25 June (Santa Fé) Colombia - 0 (Leyder Preciado s/off8) Denmark - 2 (Rune Rasmussen Lind 36, Thomas Kahlenberg m/pen42, Thomas Gravesen 45) 25 June (Buenos Aires) Morocco - 0 Italy - 2 (Francesco Totti 13, Fausto Rossini 57, Gabriele Perico s/off87) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Italy 3 3 0 0 7 1 9 2nd Q Denmark 3 2 0 1 5 2 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Colombia 3 1 0 2 3 5 3 4th Morocco 3 0 0 3 0 7 0 ROUND 2 26 June (Avellaneda) Portugal - 0 Belgium - 1 (Emile Mpenza 70) 26 June (Buenos Aires) Wales - 3 (Simon Davies 13, Andy Brown 14, Robert Earnshaw 82) Greece - 2 (Dimitris Papadopoulos 45, Angelos Charlsteas 56) 27 June (Buenos Aires) Italy - 1 (Francesco Totti s/off18, Filippo Sarti 25, Fernando Zaniratto s/off35) Russia - 4 (Yevgeni Aldonin 22, Sergey Semak 52, Alexandr Shirko 70,82) 27 June (Avellaneda) Brazil - 2 (Adriano 9, Ronaldinho 52) Finland - 2 (Pekka Kainu 27, Keijo Huusko 36) [after extra-time, Brazil win 4-2 on penalties] 28 June (Lanús) France - 3 (Peter Luccin 15,73, David Trezeguet 48) England - 0 28 June (Rosario) Spain - 1 (Raúl 44) Argentina - 1 (Esteban Cambiasso 59) [after extra-time, Spain win 5-3 on penalties] 29 June (Santa Fé) Germany - 0 Denmark - 2 (Martin Albrechtsen 5, Thomas Kahlenberg pen87) 29 June (Rosario) Holland - 1 (Rafael van der Vaart 22) South Korea - 0 QUARTER FINALS 2 July (Rosario) Brazil - 0 Russia - 1 (Anzor Agapov 57) 2 July (Buenos Aires) Belgium - 0 Wales - 0 [after extra-time, Wales win 4-3 on penalties] 3 July (Buenos Aires) Holland - 2 (Niels Oude Kamphuis 22, Mark van Bommel 44) Denmark - 1 (Rune Rasmussen Lind 26) 3 July (Avellaneda) Spain - 2 (Diego Tristán 49, Raúl 76) France - 0 SEMI FINALS 6 July (Avellaneda) Wales - 1 (Jason Barton 79) Russia - 0 7 July (Buenos Aires) Spain - 1 (Raúl 11) Holland - 1 (Patrick Kluivert 7, John Heitinga s/off19) [after extra-time, Spain win 4-3 on penalties] 3RD-PLACE PLAY-OFF 10 July (Buenos Aires) Holland - 3 (Ruud van Nistelrooy 33,85, Frans van Adelberg 90) Russia - 0 FINAL 11 July (Buenos Aires) Spain - 3 (Diego Tristán 11,25, Roberto Peragón 71) Wales - 1 (Robert Earnshaw 45) SPAIN (4-2-3-1): Iker Casillas; Gabri, Juanito, Pablo Ibáñez, Ángel; Xavi, Mikel Arteta (Roberto Peragón); Joaquín, Raúl [C] (José Jorge Saavedra (Alberto Lopo)), José Antonio Reyes; Diego Tristán. BOOKED: Gabri. WALES (4-1-3-2): Robert Fitzgerald; Lee Beevers, Scott Young, James Collins [C], Neil James (Jason Barton); Lee Fowler; Simon Davies, Andy Brown (Carl Fletcher), David Vaughan; Robert Evans (Chris Llewellyn), Robert Earnshaw. BOOKED: Fowler. Top Goalscorer - Diego Tristán (Spain): 5. Most Assists - Andrey Arshavin (Russia), Craig Bellamy (Wales), Ricardo Gardner (Jamaica), Thomas Kahlenberg (Denmark), Minas Pitsos (Greece): 3. Highest Average Rating (at least 4 matches) - Julio Arca (Argentina), Antti Mäkelä (Finland): 8.50.

OTHER LEAGUES FRANCE Ligue 1 Top Three: Marseille (1st), Lille (2nd), Toulouse (3rd). Relegated: Le Have (18th), Grenoble (19th), Châteauroux (20th). Promoted from Ligue 2: Caen (1st), Montpellier (2nd), Nîmes (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Emmanuel Adebayor (St-Etienne): 20. Most Assists - Camel Meriem (Auxerre): 12. Highest Average Rating - Francisco Salazar (Toulouse): 8.05. Coupe de France: Toulouse 2-1 Nancy. Coupe de la Ligue: Marseille 3-0 St-Etienne. GERMANY 1. Bundesliga Top Three: Dortmund (1st), VfB Stuttgart (2nd), Werder Bremen (3rd). Relegated: Bielefeld (16th), Bochum (17th), Saarbrücken (18th). Promoted from 2. Bundesliga: Wolfsburg (1st), St Pauli (2nd), Frankfurt (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Samuel Eto'o (Dortmund), Alexandr Kerzhakov (1.FC Köln), Claudio Pizarro (FC Bayern): 17. Most Assists - Andrey Arshavin (Dortmund): 15. Highest Average Rating - Augusto Rodrigues da Silva (Nürnberg): 7.84. DFB-Pokal: Werder Bremen 1-0 1.FC Köln. DFB-Liga Pokal: 1.FC Köln 0-0 FC Bayern (5-3 penalties). HOLLAND Eredivisie Top Three: Ajax (1st), Feyenoord (2nd), PSV (3rd). Relegated: Telstar (16th), AZ (17th), Eindhoven (18th). Promoted from Eerste Divisie: ADO (1st), Roda (3rd), Helmond (13th). Top Goalscorer - Zico Tumba (Feyenoord): 18. Most Assists - Brett Emerton (Feyenoord): 14. Highest Average Rating - Mateja Kezman (PSV): 7.94. KNVB Beker: Sparta 2-1 PSV. ITALY Serie A Top Three: Lazio (1st), Juventus (2nd), Parma (3rd). Relegated: Lecce (15th), Salernitana (16th), Napoli (17th), Perugia (18th). Promoted from Serie B: Fiorenzuola (1st), Bari (2nd), Palermo (3rd), Fiorentina (4th). Top Goalscorer - Jon Dahl Tomasson (Lazio): 15. Most Assists - Daniele De Rossi (Atalanta), Augusto Monti (Vicenza): 10. Highest Average Rating - Alberto Teixeira (Lazio): 8.00. Coppa Italia: Atalanta 5-4 Lazio (aggregate). PORTUGAL Primeira Liga Top Three: Sporting (1st), Porto (2nd), Beira-Mar (3rd). Relegated: Santa Clara (16th), Salgueiros (17th), Bragança (18th). Promoted from Segunda Liga: Camacha (1st), Varzim (2nd), Campomaiorense (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Mikhail Drozdov (Leiria/Belenenses): 24. Most Assists - Michel (Sporting): 21. Highest Average Rating - Miroslav Klose (Porto): 8.40. Taça de Portugal: Sporting 5-1 Vitória Guimarães. SCOTLAND Premier League Top Three: Celtic (1st), Rangers (2nd), Hibs (3rd). Relegated: Dundee (12th). Promoted from Division 1: St Mirren (1st). Top Goalscorer - Alan Smith (Rangers), Gordon Weir (Celtic): 25. Most Assists - Torsten Schultz (Celtic): 15. Highest Average Rating - Gordon Weir (Celtic): 8.14. Scottish Cup: Rangers 5-0 Aberdeen. League Cup: Celtic 3-2 Dunfermline. SPAIN La Liga Top Three: Barcelona (1st), Atlético Madrid (2nd), Valencia (3rd). Relegated: Toledo (18th), Extremadura (19th), Éibar (20th). Promoted from Segunda División: Córdoba (1st), Levante (2nd), Villarreal (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Fernando Torres (Atlético Madrid): 27. Most Assists - Ariel Ibagaza (Atlético Madrid): 16. Highest Average Rating - Patrick Kluivert (Barcelona): 8.10. Copa del Rey: Atlético Madrid 4-0 Deportivo. CONTINENTAL & INTERNATIONAL CLUB Champions League: Barcelona 3-1 Man Utd - in Saint-Denis. UEFA Cup: Celtic 1-1 Bologna (4-3 penalties) - in London. Super Cup: Barcelona 2-2 Marseille (8-7 penalties). Intercontinental Cup: Barcelona 4-3 Vasco. Club World Championship: Metrostars 1-0 HSV. FIFA World Player of the Year - Hernán Jorge Crespo (Lazio & Argentina). World Footballer of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea & Portugal). African Player of the Year - Peter Ofori-Quaye (Hertha BSC & Ghana). European Player of the Year - Patrick Kluivert (Barcelona & Holland). South American Player of the Year - Falcao (River & Colombia). Oceania Player of the Year - Harry Kewell (FC Bayern & Australia). LEADING TRANSFERS (Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 31/10/09 Gastón Casas F LC Betis Liverpool £13.5M 26/07/09 Cristiano Ronaldo F RLC Sporting Chelsea £12.75M 01/02/10 Mikael Forssell S C Wolves Tottenham £10.25M 20/07/09 Rodrigo Taddei AM RLC Porto Man Utd £8.25M 21/07/09 Niko Kranjcar AM LC Olympiakos Southampton £7.5M 03/11/09 Jonathan Woodgate SW/D C Leeds Arsenal £6.25M 23/11/09 David Jack M C Bradford Stoke £6.25M 22/06/10 Felipe Baloy SW/D C Birmingham Sheff Wed £6M 07/01/10 Joe O'Shea S C Tottenham Man Utd £4.8M 17/06/10 Adam Tann D RLC Grimsby Tottenham £4.6M LEADING TRANSFERS (not including Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 02/10/09 Gennaro Ivan Gattuso DM RC Milan Juventus £16.5M 06/01/10 Wellington da Rosa F C Vasco Nürnberg £16.5M 11/08/09 Wilfred Bouma D/DM/F L Roma Barcelona £16M 15/12/09 Miroslav Klose S C Kaiserslautern Porto £14.5M 01/07/09 Harry Kewell AM/F LC Leeds FC Bayern £13M 24/08/09 Maxi Rodriguez AM/F R Real Madrid Juventus £12.5M 01/07/09 Peter Ofori-Quaye S C Schalke 04 Hertha BSC £12M 24/06/09 Simão AM RL Benfica Marseille £12M 15/12/09 Ricardo Carvalho D C FC Bayern Real Madrid £11.25M 30/08/09 Lúcio D C Schalke 04 Roma £11M

SEASON REVIEW 2009/2010 ENGLAND NOTE: All goals and assist records relate to league matches only. PREMIERSHIP Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Arsenal 38 14 3 2 34 13 13 4 2 29 12 88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 38 14 4 1 30 4 11 6 2 30 11 85 3rd Chelsea 38 16 2 1 40 9 9 3 7 34 21 80 4th Man Utd 38 16 3 0 47 7 8 4 7 19 17 79 5th Blackburn 38 12 4 3 40 23 8 3 8 22 21 67 6th Leeds 38 12 3 4 32 6 7 6 6 16 14 66 7th Man City 38 11 5 3 27 13 3 8 8 17 26 55 8th Newcastle 38 10 2 7 37 26 6 4 9 24 35 54 9th Middlesbrough 38 11 5 3 31 15 4 4 11 21 40 54 10th Southampton 38 8 6 5 22 19 7 0 12 17 27 51 11th Sheff Wed 38 8 7 4 23 16 5 3 11 22 33 49 12th Crystal Palace 38 10 1 8 25 21 4 5 10 14 21 48 13th Stoke 38 7 6 6 11 12 3 7 9 11 21 43 14th Everton 38 9 6 4 18 11 1 6 12 13 31 42 15th Burnley 38 6 7 6 29 27 4 4 11 20 35 41 16th Ipswich 38 6 6 7 14 15 2 9 8 15 29 39 17th Bolton 38 6 4 9 15 20 4 5 10 11 26 39 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Sunderland 38 4 6 9 25 33 3 1 15 9 32 28 19th R Tottenham 38 5 2 12 24 39 1 3 15 10 43 23 20th R Crewe 38 4 4 11 15 31 2 1 16 6 44 23 Top Goalscorer - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea): 30. Most Assists - Matthew Hamshaw (Sheff Wed), Seth Johnson (Middlesbrough): 10. Highest Average Rating - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea): 8.44. PFA Player of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo (Chelsea). PFA Young Player of the Year - Ken Josefsson (Crystal Palace). DIVISION 1 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Wolves 46 18 2 3 54 24 9 5 9 36 38 88 2nd P Bradford 46 16 4 3 39 23 10 6 7 43 33 88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd P Coventry 46 12 6 5 40 21 12 7 4 37 25 85 4th Grimsby 46 18 4 1 43 16 6 8 9 27 35 84 5th Birmingham 46 11 7 5 53 34 12 5 6 43 33 81 6th West Ham 46 15 4 4 33 15 9 4 10 38 40 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Notts Co 46 13 7 3 33 17 6 8 9 38 37 72 8th Preston 46 14 5 4 42 23 6 6 11 27 33 71 9th Charlton 46 12 5 6 33 18 6 10 7 26 27 69 10th Torquay 46 13 7 3 43 22 4 9 10 16 27 67 11th Chesterfield 46 8 7 8 25 23 11 3 9 30 34 67 12th Kidderminster 46 11 4 8 33 33 8 5 10 31 29 66 13th Carlisle 46 9 9 5 29 20 7 8 8 29 31 65 14th Dag & Red 46 10 7 6 24 14 7 6 10 15 21 64 15th W.B.A. 46 10 7 6 36 26 6 8 9 29 34 63 16th Sheff Utd 46 9 9 5 36 24 7 6 10 21 28 63 17th Huddersfield 46 7 7 9 26 31 8 4 11 21 36 56 18th Aston Villa 46 10 9 4 46 35 1 8 14 18 38 50 19th Nottm Forest 46 6 5 12 36 47 7 4 12 37 48 48 20th Norwich 46 6 4 13 39 47 6 7 10 35 40 47 21st Fulham 46 9 8 6 28 24 1 7 15 14 36 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd R Brentford 46 7 6 10 31 37 2 4 17 13 49 37 23rd R Derby 46 7 6 10 40 48 2 1 20 22 64 34 24th R Peterborough 46 3 5 15 23 38 1 5 17 14 49 22 DIVISION 2 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Bristol City 46 14 5 4 39 25 14 4 5 35 28 93 2nd P Swindon 46 17 3 3 42 16 10 3 10 38 39 87 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd P Millwall 46 15 5 3 43 18 10 5 8 40 33 85 4th Reading 46 15 5 3 47 25 8 9 6 37 34 83 5th Doncaster 46 14 5 4 42 28 10 6 7 33 29 83 6th Leicester 46 13 8 2 50 27 9 6 8 23 26 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Luton 46 13 5 5 36 15 7 7 9 19 24 72 8th Northampton 46 14 3 6 53 34 6 6 11 35 48 69 9th Tranmere 46 12 6 5 25 16 5 10 8 17 21 67 10th Darlington 46 12 7 4 38 24 4 10 9 25 35 65 11th Wrexham 46 7 10 6 27 24 9 7 7 28 30 65 12th Gillingham 46 11 8 4 38 23 6 5 12 23 33 64 13th Hull 46 12 7 4 44 26 5 6 12 27 41 64 14th Shrewsbury 46 12 5 6 31 23 4 9 10 27 38 62 15th Leyton Orient 46 11 6 6 26 16 5 7 11 25 38 61 16th Cambridge Utd 46 14 4 5 45 30 4 3 16 30 49 61 17th Mansfield 46 9 10 4 29 20 3 9 11 20 30 55 18th Oxford 46 9 5 9 43 40 5 7 11 27 42 54 19th Rochdale 46 11 3 9 40 34 2 5 16 23 59 47 20th Q.P.R. 46 7 5 11 34 43 4 7 12 30 43 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st R Wycombe 46 7 9 7 23 28 2 7 14 16 35 43 22nd R Portsmouth 46 8 9 6 33 27 2 3 18 12 39 42 23rd R Watford 46 7 8 8 39 36 2 4 17 21 51 39 24th R Port Vale 46 4 6 13 23 26 1 2 20 13 45 23 DIVISION 3 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Barnsley 46 16 5 2 49 23 10 5 8 40 29 88 2nd P Rotherham 46 12 8 3 37 26 13 3 7 40 32 86 3rd P Macclesfield 46 15 4 4 45 29 9 9 5 31 25 85 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Scarborough 46 12 9 2 32 16 11 6 6 27 21 84 5th Oldham 46 15 4 4 36 20 7 7 9 28 31 77 6th Colchester 46 10 8 5 19 11 10 6 7 27 24 74 7th P Cardiff 46 15 6 2 46 18 4 9 10 30 42 72 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Bury 46 12 6 5 34 25 8 4 11 36 37 70 9th Lincoln 46 13 6 4 38 21 5 9 9 27 34 69 10th Stockport 46 13 3 7 42 36 7 4 12 35 43 67 11th Bristol Rovers 46 14 6 3 34 13 2 8 13 13 26 62 12th Hartlepool 46 11 6 6 30 22 5 8 10 31 42 62 13th Exeter 46 11 9 3 25 13 2 10 11 7 22 58 14th Wigan 46 10 5 8 45 40 6 4 13 33 41 57 15th Plymouth 46 9 8 6 23 20 3 9 11 18 29 53 16th Telford 46 9 9 5 24 19 2 10 11 11 24 52 17th Blackpool 46 7 8 8 26 27 5 8 10 24 32 52 18th Bournemouth 46 9 10 4 20 12 0 12 11 10 26 49 19th Walsall 46 8 6 9 25 25 4 6 13 19 36 48 20th Swansea 46 8 11 4 31 27 4 1 18 22 47 48 21st Scunthorpe 46 8 8 7 37 42 2 9 12 17 32 47 22nd Rushden 46 7 9 7 28 33 2 11 10 15 31 47 23rd Stalybridge 46 7 5 11 24 34 3 5 15 16 27 40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th R Brighton 46 4 11 8 20 25 3 7 13 20 37 39 CONFERENCE Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Northwich Vics 42 18 1 2 52 19 10 5 6 37 25 90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Bath City 42 13 4 4 39 25 15 2 4 40 21 90 3rd Morecambe 42 10 6 5 28 17 14 4 3 43 21 82 4th Harrow Borough 42 11 3 7 35 21 11 3 7 27 22 72 5th Boston Utd 42 12 5 4 36 20 8 6 7 20 20 71 6th Wimbledon 42 9 9 3 33 23 10 3 8 35 32 69 7th Slough 42 13 2 6 35 27 7 7 7 28 30 69 8th Nuneaton Borough 42 9 7 5 42 32 10 3 8 32 32 67 9th Cheltenham 42 10 3 8 31 24 10 4 7 31 28 67 10th Yeovil 42 7 7 7 43 39 11 1 9 49 45 62 11th Hereford 42 9 7 5 30 22 8 4 9 31 33 62 12th Margate 42 10 5 6 28 24 4 7 10 19 32 54 13th Farnborough 42 10 5 6 32 27 3 7 11 15 29 51 14th Barnet 42 9 3 9 40 34 5 4 12 23 34 49 15th York 42 7 4 10 21 23 5 9 7 26 34 49 16th Worksop 42 5 6 10 26 30 7 6 8 40 41 48 17th Salisbury 42 6 10 5 32 32 5 5 11 24 35 48 18th Clevedon 42 5 4 12 19 34 5 6 10 16 26 40 19th Merthyr Tydfil 42 5 6 10 22 37 4 5 12 24 46 38 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20th R Southend 42 4 3 14 29 46 5 7 9 35 38 37 21st R Stevenage 42 7 4 10 29 31 2 5 14 14 35 36 22nd R Aldershot 42 4 2 15 19 40 4 3 14 18 42 29 Promoted to Conference: Canvey Island, Colwyn Bay, Ilkeston Town. FA Cup: Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool. League Cup: Bolton 1-0 Leicester. Community Shield: Liverpool 3-2 Man Utd. Football League Trophy: Swindon 2-0 Hull.

ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... The World Cup kicks off in Argentina... but the hosts and holders don't last long. After drawing their first two games and needing to beat Costa Rica to qualify for the knockout rounds, the Albiceleste are knocked out on penalties by a rejuvenated Spain. The AFA fire head coach Marcelo Bielsa and order him to sit on a bucket for the rest of his career. The FIFA World Rankings prove to be as reliable as ever. Copa América runners-up Colombia start the tournament as the number 1 team in the world, but despite the impressive form of Juventus forward John Jairo Yepes, they are knocked out at the Group Stage. Africa Cup of Nations runners-up Nigeria are ranked number 2 - and they finish bottom of a group that also includes France, Greece and Poland! The two Home Nations have mixed fortunes after being drawn against each other in Group D. After Craig Bellamy gives Wales a 1-0 win over England, Mark Hughes' Dragons go on to top their group unbeaten before seeing off Greece 3-2 to reach the Quarter Finals. Meanwhile, England limp through after a late equaliser against Mexico, and then whimper out 3-0 to France. Italy's hopes of winning a record fifth World Cup go up in flames after an ill-tempered Round 2 defeat to Russia. Azzurri captain Francesco Totti is sent off for a reckless tackle on Andrey Arshavin... and responds by PUNCHING the referee, copping the Roma legend a six-month ban! Barcelona defender Fernando Zaniratto also sees red for the Italians, who eventually lose 4-1. Following Wycombe's relegation to Division 3, manager Ryan Giggs calls a press conference and announces he will resign... from playing. The 36-year-old 'Welsh Wizard' hangs up his boots to focus on taking the Chairboys back up to Division 2, with the assistance of his coaches Chris Woods, Neil Lennon and Dean Smith. IN OTHER NEWS... Woody, Buzz Lightyear and all their friends return in "Toy Story 3", which becomes an overwhelming success both critically and commercially. A word of warning before you watch it: you will cry. Julia Gillard is sworn in as Australia's new Prime Minister after being elected leader of the ruling Labor Party, succeeding Kevin Rudd. 48-year-old Gillard makes history... as the first person born in old South Wales to lead the Aussie government. Chris Sievey - the Mancunian comedian best-known for wearing a large papier-mâché head - dies from cancer at the age of just 54. There will never be another character quite like Frank Sidebottom. American John Isner plays against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the first round of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. After an epic contest that lasts 11 hours and is played over three days, Isner prevails 70-68 in the fifth set. By the time the match finishes, the ball boys and girls are all in their 50s and suffering from crippling arthritis.

JUNE 2010 As football fans across the globe looked ahead to the 2010 World Cup in Argentina, we at Kidderminster Harriers were planning for another season in Division 1. Having finished 12th in our first campaign back at this level, our target now was to consolidate our status in the second tier - and avoid another outbreak of 'second season syndrome'. When I sat down with chairman Darren Gibson for our end-of-season meeting, the first thing on the agenda was a new contract for yours truly. My two-year deal with the Harriers was almost up, and Darren didn’t hesitate to offer me a new one - with a big pay rise. This would run for another two seasons, taking me to the end of 2011/2012, but I also negotiated a release clause, in case a ‘bigger’ club should call for my services. Another reason to stay was that the chairman had been true to his word by upgrading our training facilities. These upgrades didn't come cheap - costing us well over £1million - but at least the players would be working with facilities worthy of full-time professionals. A further expansion to Aggborough was briefly mooted as well. We had recorded an average home attendance of 6,456 - peaking at 6,598 against Nottingham Forest in February - but this was still some way short of the 7,237 capacity. The chairman was also reluctant to convert the 5,000 standing capacity and make Aggborough an all-seater stadium, having sought feedback from supporters. Nonetheless, I was satisfied with the progress the club was making. Pen went to paper, and my new contract was signed. Having committed my future to the Harriers, I sought to improve my backroom. The retirement of long-time physiotherapist Jimmy Conway at age 63 left some big boots to fill, so I replaced him with two physios. 42-year-old Alex Anderson arrived from Scottish amateur side Lossiemouth United, and he was accompanied by 53-year-old Englishman Ian Bailey. Scout Paul Blades had also left the club and was picked up by Northwich Victoria, who'd just secured a return to Division 3. In his place, we hired Thanapant Singhapant - a 35-year-old Thai-born Briton who had spent the last seven years working for Anatoliko in Greece. Meanwhile, Lee Matthews announced that - at the age of 37 - he was hanging up his boots to join our coaching team full-time. Matthews had not played for the first-team since joining us from Dagenham & Redbridge last season, though he did feature sporadically for the reserves. A number of players left the club altogether. John Forde's latest loan spell had expired, and the 21-year-old Irish goalkeeper decided to sign a new contract with Newcastle instead of potentially joining us permanently. Cherno Samba also went back to the north-east after scoring 10 goals in 11 games, though his long-term future at Middlesbrough remained in doubt. Former captain Barry Miller bade farewell to Aggborough after three years of fantastic central defensive service. Miller had provided some much-needed stability after their relegation back to Division 2 under Lennie Lawrence, and he was integral to our promotion in my first season as manager. Sadly, Barry wasn't quite up to Division 1 standard, and the 34-year-old was now looking to see out his career at a lower level. Jeff Whitley - another player who had previously skippered the Harriers - agreed to cancel the last two years of his contract and look for a new club. The defensive midfielder had grown disillusioned with life in the Midlands and wanted to spend more time with his family up north. Icelandic winger Baldur Aðalsteinsson also accepted an early termination of his deal, having featured just four times for us this season. Lastly, I allowed Kevin Hyde to join Plymouth on a free transfer. You had to be a bloody good left-back to try and keep Terry Simpson out of this Kiddy team, but Kevin just couldn’t reach that level. After making only seven league appearances in a season spent predominantly in the reserves, the 24-year-old dropped back to Division 3, where he had played so well for his previous club Leyton Orient. Though we hadn't brought in any additional transfer funds, the latest influx of TV money meant I still had a healthy budget to play with - around £2.6million. Naturally, I stuck to my frugal ways. My number 1 priority was to sign a new goalkeeper, ideally for the long haul (in other words, more than two seasons). I wanted to bring back James Jowsey after his excellent performances on loan earlier in the season, but Manchester City were demanding a ridiculous fee to sell the 26-year-old. Pretty much every other good young - or young-ish - goalkeeper was overpriced, so I had little choice but to look for experience. Eventually, I agreed a £50,000 fee to sign David Preece from Tranmere, who had the best defensive record in Division 2 this season. Preece might be celebrating his 34th birthday in August, but he's a brave and agile shotstopper with a very professional attitude. If anything, he should at least be an upgrade on Espen Baardsen. Carl Robinson's departure last month left a vacancy in midfield, so I decided to fill it with another veteran. 33-year-old box-to-box midfielder (and occasional centre-half) Jim Brennan arrived on a free transfer from Coventry, having played a bit-role part in their Division 1 play-off success. Brennan has also played 67 times for Canada since making his international debut in 1999. I've also continued to build for the future, signing a couple of 17-year-olds for our reserve team. Ryan McCann is a determined centre-back from Northern Ireland, while John McQuade could be the next young Scottish striker to break through at Aggborough. I'm sure there'll be one or two more new faces at Kidderminster by the time we kick off the new Division 1 season against Aston Villa on 14 August. Right now, though, I'm confident that the squad we have is strong enough to sustain ourselves at this level.

KIDDERMINSTER PLAYER STATISTICS (2009/2010) Goalkeepers Apps Con Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Baardsen, Espen 4 5 0 0 0 0 6.00 26 Forde, John 22 29 0 0 0 2 6.95 * Jowsey, James 19 25 0 0 0 1 7.32 * Mooney, Noel 4 9 0 0 0 0 6.50 Outfield Players Apps Gls Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Aðalsteinsson, Baldur 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 5.75 4 Bell, Simon 20 (7) 0 0 4 0 2 6.78 17 Berntsson, Billy 29 (3) 1 2 1 0 2 7.41 9 Berry, Jamie 33 (7) 9 5 2 0 0 6.95 32 Campbell, Sol 22 1 0 4 0 0 7.23 * Carter, Ryan 2 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 31 Collins, David 32 (5) 14 2 3 0 3 7.08 * Cross, Gavin 2 (3) 0 1 0 0 0 6.80 12 Derry, Shaun 35 (3) 3 9 5 0 0 7.05 34 Fitzgerald, Kevin 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 27 Fowler, Paul 4 (3) 0 1 0 1 0 6.43 7 Gallego, César 4 (15) 0 2 0 0 0 6.74 10 Garside, Robert 20 (8) 4 7 0 0 1 6.82 22 Graham, Paul 13 (17) 8 0 2 0 1 6.60 19 Gray, Alan 11 (13) 0 3 1 0 0 6.92 6 Heikkinen, Markus 37 (4) 3 2 6 1 2 7.00 37 Howe, Bradley 3 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 6.38 18 Hyde, Kevin 5 (3) 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 21 Miller, Barry 26 (2) 0 1 1 0 0 6.79 * Modigh, Daniel 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 20 Morfitt, Adrian 15 1 3 1 0 2 7.27 5 Redhe, Tobias 9 (3) 0 0 2 0 2 7.08 15 Robinson, Carl 27 (6) 1 5 2 0 0 6.73 24 Samba, Cherno 11 10 1 0 0 2 8.00 23 Scott, Alan 20 (4) 2 1 0 0 0 6.50 16 Simpson, Scott 12 (11) 4 3 0 0 0 6.70 3 Simpson, Terry 33 (3) 0 5 9 0 4 7.36 2 Unai 29 (1) 1 0 5 1 1 7.00 14 Watson, Lee 26 (4) 5 5 1 0 2 6.90 33 Whitley, Jeff 7 (3) 1 0 2 0 0 6.60 * [Player not currently at club]

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of 2009/2010 season) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Wolves 46 18 2 3 54 24 9 5 9 36 38 88 2nd P Bradford 46 16 4 3 39 23 10 6 7 43 33 88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd P Coventry 46 12 6 5 40 21 12 7 4 37 25 85 4th Grimsby 46 18 4 1 43 16 6 8 9 27 35 84 5th Birmingham 46 11 7 5 53 34 12 5 6 43 33 81 6th West Ham 46 15 4 4 33 15 9 4 10 38 40 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Notts Co 46 13 7 3 33 17 6 8 9 38 37 72 8th Preston 46 14 5 4 42 23 6 6 11 27 33 71 9th Charlton 46 12 5 6 33 18 6 10 7 26 27 69 10th Torquay 46 13 7 3 43 22 4 9 10 16 27 67 11th Chesterfield 46 8 7 8 25 23 11 3 9 30 34 67 12th Kidderminster 46 11 4 8 33 33 8 5 10 31 29 66 13th Carlisle 46 9 9 5 29 20 7 8 8 29 31 65 14th Dag & Red 46 10 7 6 24 14 7 6 10 15 21 64 15th W.B.A. 46 10 7 6 36 26 6 8 9 29 34 63 16th Sheff Utd 46 9 9 5 36 24 7 6 10 21 28 63 17th Huddersfield 46 7 7 9 26 31 8 4 11 21 36 56 18th Aston Villa 46 10 9 4 46 35 1 8 14 18 38 50 19th Nottm Forest 46 6 5 12 36 47 7 4 12 37 48 48 20th Norwich 46 6 4 13 39 47 6 7 10 35 40 47 21st Fulham 46 9 8 6 28 24 1 7 15 14 36 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd R Brentford 46 7 6 10 31 37 2 4 17 13 49 37 23rd R Derby 46 7 6 10 40 48 2 1 20 22 64 34 24th R Peterborough 46 3 5 15 23 38 1 5 17 14 49 22 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Arsenal see off a strong challenge from Liverpool to win their first Premiership title since 2002, with captain Patrice Evra and new England midfielder Craig Ward both in inspirational form. The Gunners also claim a third domestic Double, as Michael Jack's 70th-minute strike overcomes Liverpool again in the FA Cup Final. Sunderland and Crewe both join Tottenham in being relegated to Division 1. Manchester United have to settle for 4th place behind Chelsea, but an extra-time win over Real Madrid sends the Red Devils through to a Champions League Final against holders Barcelona. Things look good for United when Rodrigo Taddei opens the scoring after just six minutes in Saint-Denis. However, Barca eventually find their feet, with goals from Luis García, Patrick Kluivert and Lionel Messi giving them a 3-1 win that retains their crown. Thousands of Scots descend upon Wembley for the UEFA Cup Final as Celtic face Bologna. Despite conceding to Federico Magallanes in the 2nd minute and having Jordan Stewart sent off in the 26th, the Bhoys equalise through midfielder Andrew Nixon and take the game to penalties. After Welsh keeper Karl Lloyd saves Magallanes' spot-kick, Marvin Andrews scores his, securing the Scottish Premier League champions a famous 4-3 win! After former Serie A champions Inter fall to 6th place, Héctor Raúl Cúper is ousted as head coach and replaced with Bayern München's Ottmar Hitzfeld. Norwegian Vegard Skogheim ends a year-long stay in Argentina to become Bayern's new manager, and he is replaced at River Plate by... Héctor Raúl Cúper! It's the good ol' job swap triangle! The Ligue 1 season reaches a thrilling climax. Lille beat Paris-SG 1-0 on the final day... but it's not enough, as Marseille thrash fellow contenders Toulouse 4-0 and secure a fourth successive title by two points! Toulouse don't go away empty-handed, as starlet Frédéric David scores the winner against Nancy in the Coupe de France Final. IN OTHER NEWS... Gordon Brown is ousted as UK Prime Minister when the general election ends with Labour losing their majority after 13 years in power. Conservative leader and new PM David Cameron promises to build a 'Big Society' after forming a coalition with Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats. Good luck with that, seeing as there's no money left! The 55th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Oslo, where an enthusiastically epic Moldovan saxophonist steals the show. However, the contest is won by Lena - a kooky 18-year-old who sings in a bizarre Cockney accent about painting her toenails and buying blue underwear. She is basically Germany's answer to Kate Nash. R&B singer Kelis screams at rapper Nas, “I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW,” and their 5-year marriage ends in divorce. Meanwhile, Canadian country star Shania Twain says that producer husband Mutt Lange don’t impress her much, and they too split up after 14 years.

MAY 2010 Having harboured play-off hopes at the start of April, Kidderminster Harriers ended it with a four-game winless run that left those dreams in tatters. We had fallen from 9th place to 16th, which thankfully was the lowest we could now go. With two matches remaining, we only had a couple of minor targets to aim for. The first of them was to improve on the Harriers’ best ever league finish - 13th place, which they managed when Jan Mølby first took them up to this level in 2005/2006. The second was to better their 68-point tally from that campaign. We were on 63 points, so we would need to win both of our final two matches to move onto 69 points. That would be nice. Our last home match of the season was against Notts County. The Magpies were 7th but were out of play-off contention after a disappointing campaign, which had cost manager Brian Little the job he'd held since 2001. We also still had a chance of finishing ahead of County in the final standings, though that would of course require us to win this match. As well as giving some gametime to exciting young talents like Paul Graham and Jamie Berry, this match would serve as an Aggborough farewell to Barry Miller. The 34-year-old centre-back would captain us for one final time before his departure at the end of the season. 1 MAY 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Notts County What should have been a celebration of an encouraging first season back in Division 1 quickly turned sour. After Notts County goalkeeper Christopher Kirkland saved a pot-shot from our midfielder Shaun Derry in the third minute, the Magpies quickly went up the other end and scored a minute later. Peter Watson's cross was headed in by his French strike partner Doudou, leaving our plans in... well, you know. We now had to keep our discipline - but one of our youngest players couldn’t do that. After losing the ball to County defender David Partridge, 21-year-old Harriers right-back Paul Fowler lost his head and kicked out at the Welsh international. Worse, he did it right in front of the referee, who sent Fowler the fouler off to a very early shower! Our 10 men were quickly overwhelmed, as Notts County doubled their lead on 18 minutes. Leon Britton's cross found Watson, who needed a couple of attempts to beat John Forde and score his 17th goal of the campaign. After Fowler's red card, César Gallego had come on for David Collins to fill the right-back vacancy. The Spaniard hadn't seen much action this season, but he proved his worth in the 35th minute, exchanging passes with Paul Graham before the latter went through to pull one goal back. Would the 19-year-old's eighth goal of the season kick off another Harriers fightback? No, it wouldn't. By the 60th minute, Notts County had restored their two-goal cushion. Paul Hill - a 24-year-old midfielder who was closing in on 250 games for his hometown club - got ahead of Forde to finish another devastating cross from Britton. Unsurprisingly, Britton would be named 'man of the match' after a tremendous playmaking performance from the right wing. Hill's performance wasn't perfect, though. A clumsy tackle on Jamie Berry in the 80th minute gave us a penalty, and potentially our last chance to get back in the game. Graham stepped forward to try and pull the deficit back to 3-2, but Kirkland easily saved his spot-kick, ending our home season on a sour note. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Graham 35) Notts County - 3 (Doudou 4, Watson 18, Hill 60) Division 1, Attendance 6,569 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 16th, Notts County 7th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Forde; Bell, Miller (Heikkinen), Unai; Fowler, T Simpson; Watson, Derry; Collins (Gallego); Graham, Berry (Scott). BOOKED: T Simpson. SENT OFF: Fowler. Well, that was not how I wanted to send off the Aggborough crowd for the season. Another defensive disaster added to a growing list, and right-back Paul Fowler might just have thrown away any chance he had of becoming a first-team regular. The record points tally had slipped away, but there was still a chance that we could finish in the top half and make this Kidderminster's best season on that front. To do that, we would need to win at The Hawthorns against West Brom, who sat three places ahead of us in 13th, but only on goal difference. After his recent dip in form, I did the unthinkable - and dropped our loanee goalkeeper John Forde from the starting XI. While finding a new long-term goalkeeper would be top of the list when it came to summer signings, I decided to give one more opportunity to Espen Baardsen. The Norwegian had started the season poorly, but could this former Baggie at least finish it in style? 9 MAY 2010: West Bromwich Albion vs Kidderminster Harriers Espen Baardsen faced his first test after 23 minutes. West Brom right-back Sam Stockley picked out left-winger Chris Baker with an incisive cross, but the 23-year-old's shot was tipped behind by an alert Baardsen. The veteran goalie also managed to keep out Baggies captain Neil Clement's header from Darren Lippiett's corner. We had a few scoring chances ourselves, the best of which came eight minutes before half-time. Jamie Berry's free-kick was half-volleyed goalwards by David Collins, who drew an awkward parry out of Albion keeper Panagiotis Dilberis. The first man onto the loose ball was midfielder Lee Watson, who fired the rebound home and - more importantly - didn't hurt himself in the process! The second half was a surprisingly comfortable affair, as the Baggies' attacks fizzled out almost as quickly as their season had. For the second time this season, I managed to get the better of my old nemesis Frank Yallop, who watched his Finnish midfield substitute Henri Myntti limp off injured in the closing stages. Two minutes before the final whistle, one of Kidderminster's star men delivered the perfect ending to our campaign. After Clement had fouled Robert Garside about 30 yards from the West Brom goal, Shaun Derry lined up a free-kick - and hammered it past Dilberis for 2-0! After five winless games in a row, we had finished the season on a victorious note! West Bromwich Albion - 0 Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Watson 37, Derry 88) Division 1, Attendance 14,652 - POSITIONS: West Brom 15th, Kidderminster 12th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Baardsen; Heikkinen, Campbell, Unai; Berntsson, T Simpson; Watson (Robinson), Derry; Collins (S Simpson); Graham (Garside), Berry. BOOKED: Berntsson. And that's all she wrote! Kidderminster finish 12th in Division 1, making this officially the greatest season in the club's history! Back in November, that would have seemed imaginable. A rocky first half to the season left us scrapping for our Division 1 lives - but since calling on the expertise of Sol Campbell, we had taken an incredible 46 points from 26 matches. A full season like that would have put this little Worcestershire club in the play-off places - and potentially even knocking on the door of automatic promotion! In a way, this campaign was similar to my first season at this level - with Dagenham & Redbridge back in 2006/2007. They also took a long time to settle into Division 1 before hitting form in the second half of the season. But while that Daggers team couldn't sustain their form and ultimately stayed up by just one point, my Harriers grew stronger month by month, and had already secured survival in the middle of March! This team was made of sterner stuff, with plenty of quality across nearly all the team. Unai's addition to the defence was almost as vital as Campbell's, as they formed a solid (and very experienced) back three alongside Markus Heikkinen. We also had plenty of relatively youthful energy out wide, with both Terry Simpson and Billy Berntsson delivering impressive performances from wing-back. This season saw the emergence of Lee Watson as an exciting playmaking talent. The 23-year-old had provided 10 goal contributions in 30 games - a tally that would have been even more impressive had it not been for those pesky injuries. Holding midfielder Shaun Derry also impressed in his third spell at Aggborough, protecting the defence superbly while also delivering a team-high nine assists - mainly from his deadly set-pieces. Teenage strikers Graham and Berry got a combined 17 goals in their first season as regular senior players. The apprentices have certainly learnt a lot from their master - David Collins, who didn't quite match his free-scoring heroics of last season but still led the way with 14 goals. Collins' performances would see him named as the Kidderminster Fans' Player of the Year for a second season in a row. Personally, I would have given that honour to left-back Terry Simpson, whose performances will surely attract fresh interest from Premiership clubs over the summer. There really is a lot to like about this team, and I'm really excited about our prospects as we head into that tricky second season. Sadly, we will have to head into the next campaign without another of our most experienced players. Carl Robinson's time at Aggborough had not been a rip-roaring success - his average rating across 33 matches was a lowly 6.73 - but the former Wales midfielder always exuded calmness and professionalism. I was not surprised, then, when Carl was offered a job by Welsh Premier League side Newtown to be their new player-manager. After mulling things over for almost a week, Robinson told me that he was going to take up Newtown's offer and leave the Harriers. Carl was now 33 years old, and his best days as a footballer were behind him, which his exclusion from Wales' 2010 World Cup squad had made perfectly clear. He was now looking forward to a fresh challenge in management, for which I wished him the very best of luck.

Deleting the DAT file does not affect AI managers. Any trophies that Mourinho wins with Roma will still be added to his record in the save, even if you delete the DAT file.

DIVISION 1 TABLE (End of April 2010) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Pl Wolves 44 17 2 3 53 24 9 4 9 34 36 84 2nd Pl Bradford 44 15 4 3 37 22 10 5 7 42 32 84 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Pl Grimsby 45 18 3 1 42 15 6 8 9 27 35 83 4th Pl Coventry 44 11 6 5 37 20 11 7 4 36 25 79 5th Pl West Ham 44 14 4 4 31 14 9 3 10 37 39 76 6th Pl Birmingham 44 10 7 5 47 33 11 5 6 42 33 75 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Notts Co 44 13 6 3 33 17 5 8 9 35 36 68 8th Charlton 44 12 5 5 33 17 6 9 7 25 26 68 9th Preston 44 13 5 3 40 22 6 6 11 27 33 68 10th Chesterfield 44 7 7 8 22 23 11 3 8 30 32 64 11th W.B.A. 44 10 7 5 36 24 6 8 8 28 32 63 12th Sheff Utd 44 9 9 5 36 24 7 6 8 21 25 63 13th Torquay 44 12 7 3 41 22 4 8 10 16 27 63 14th Carlisle 44 9 8 5 28 19 7 7 8 29 31 63 15th Dag & Red 44 10 6 6 24 14 7 6 9 15 20 63 16th Kidderminster 44 11 4 7 32 30 7 5 10 29 29 63 17th Huddersfield 44 6 7 9 25 31 8 3 11 21 36 52 18th Aston Villa 44 9 9 4 45 35 1 8 13 18 37 47 19th Norwich 44 6 3 13 39 47 6 7 9 34 38 46 20th Nottm Forest 44 6 4 12 34 45 6 4 12 35 47 44 21st Fulham 44 9 7 6 26 22 1 6 15 12 34 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd R Brentford 44 7 5 10 30 36 2 4 16 13 46 36 23rd R Derby 45 7 6 10 40 48 2 1 19 21 61 34 24th R Peterborough 44 3 5 14 22 36 1 5 16 13 43 22 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Cristiano Ronaldo is named PFA Player of the Year after reaching 28 Premiership goals in his debut season at Chelsea. However, Ronaldo fails to deliver in the Champions League Quarter Finals, as the Blues are beaten 5-2 on aggregate by runaway Serie A champions Lazio. Also in the last four are Barcelona, Manchester United… and Real Madrid, who see off arch-rivals Atlético Madrid. Celtic close in on their first European trophy since 1967, as they bounce back from a first-leg defeat to knock out Liverpool 3-1 and reach the UEFA Cup Final. Rangers almost make it an Old Firm derby, but Ivan Franceschini's 73rd-minute strike at Ibrox sends Bologna through on away goals. Millwall's FA Cup fairytale ends at the Semi Finals. The Division 2 Lions defend brilliantly against Premiership leaders Arsenal at Craven Cottage but are beaten by a 30th-minute Christian Wilhelmsson penalty. Arsène Wenger's Gunners face their title rivals Liverpool in the Final, as the Reds see off Southampton on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, Bolton battle past Leicester to win the League Cup, much to Glenn Hoddle's disgust. Tottenham drop out of the top flight for the first time since the 1970s, as a 3-2 loss to Crystal Palace confirms their Premiership relegation. Everton survive, but still decide to sack Walter Smith after 12 years in charge. Smith is replaced at Kings Dock by ex-England captain Alan Shearer, whose only previous managerial experience was a two-month spell at Peterhead in Scottish Division 1. Lazio and Barcelona regain their Italian and Spanish championships with ease, and a second-half wobble from VfB Stuttgart allows Dortmund to snatch the Bundesliga title. At least there is a proper title race in Ligue 1, as Lille leapfrog Toulouse with four matches to go, while Monaco and holders Marseille remain in the hunt. IN OTHER NEWS... The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers and spilling over 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the most devastating environmental disasters in history. The Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupts, causing a massive ash cloud that disrupts flights across northern and western Europe. One Scottish traveller declares on live TV, "I hate Iceland", and says he will only shop at Asda from now on. Poland's President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria are among 96 people killed when their plane crashes in thick fog near the Russian city of Smolensk. The group had flown out from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, in which around 22,000 Poles were executed by the Soviet Union. Spanish sports administrator Juan Antonio Samaranch dies aged 89. In terms of International Olympic Committee Presidents, he was the "best ever"... if you ignore all the corruption, and his support for Franco.

APRIL 2010 The big mid-season gamble had paid off. Four months after signing Sol Campbell on £15,000 per week, Kidderminster Harriers had gone from the edge of the Division 1 relegation zone to ensuring survival with ample time to spare. I knew that paying so much money for one player (no matter how good he was) would put the club's financial stability and my job security at risk if it backfired. Campbell's salary had contributed to us being £250,000 in debt - but having won 12 and lost just three of our last 19 league matches since recruiting the ex-England defender, we were now guaranteed another healthy injection of TV revenue over the summer. With relegation no longer a concern, it was time to see how far I could take this team. Sitting only five points behind 6th-placed West Ham with seven matches still to play, we still had an outside chance of making the play-offs. We also had plenty of momentum. Mind you, only three of our remaining fixtures were at home - and the first of those was against a Derby side who were fighting tooth and nail to get out of the drop zone. The Rams would certainly not make this as easy as the pre-match odds suggested. 3 APRIL 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Derby County The opening stages went to form, as we immediately took the game to our struggling opponents. Right-back Billy Berntsson thought he'd scored a rare goal when he fired in a lay-off from Carl Robinson in the fourth minute... but the offside flag had already gone up against Robert Garside. Robinson was as frustrated with his Welsh compatriot as I was, but the veteran midfielder did eventually get an assist in the 28th minute. A skilful chip into the Derby area found our hotshot striker Cherno Samba, who outjumped Rams defender Paul Mayo to head home. The referee's assistant kept his flag down this time, and so we took a 1-0 lead into the second period! We had chances to double our advantage early in the second half. Our youngest player Jamie Berry and oldest player Sol Campbell were each thwarted by Jon Ashwood - Derby's relatively middle-aged 25-year-old keeper. The Rams then launched a counter-attack in the 58th minute, when Harriers centre-back Simon Bell's clearance was intercepted by substitute Craig Disley. Disley then laid it off to his fellow midfielder David Noble, who jinked past Shaun Derry and then hammered the ball into the top corner. Were we about to drop two crucial points at home to one of the league's worst teams? Not on Cherno's watch! After 64 minutes, Samba beat Noble to a Derry corner and restored our advantage - with his 10th goal in as many matches! We then shut out the visitors for the next half-hour or so, with Bell recovering from his earlier mistake to produce a fantastic defensive display late on. Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Samba 28,64) Derby County - 1 (Noble 58) Division 1, Attendance 6,340 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 9th, Derby 23rd KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Forde; Heikkinen, Campbell, Bell; Berntsson (T Simpson), Gray; Robinson, Derry; Garside (Howe); Samba, Berry (Graham). While we were celebrating our seventh win in nine league games, Derby made one last gamble to try and save them from relegation - sacking John Beck immediately after the match. Perhaps the days of Beck's long-ball tactics dominating the Football League had come to an end. We suffered a significant blow prior to our next game at 12th-placed Charlton, with left-back Terry Simpson ruled out for three weeks after dislocating his shoulder in training. That meant Alan Gray's patience was rewarded with an extended run in the team, while Kevin Hyde was back on the bench, looking to make his first appearance since December. 10 APRIL 2010: Charlton Athletic vs Kidderminster Harriers Alan Curbishley's Charlton weren't the most aggressive of our teams, but they certainly gave our players a rough ride in the first half. Cherno Samba was viciously brought down in the penalty area by Welsh centre-back Robert Edwards in the 15th minute, but the referee refused to reward a penalty! Mark Pericles did at least take action when another Charlton defender - Colin Burns - went in hard on our attacking midfielder Robert Garside in the 26th. While I and the Harriers supporters called for a red card, Mr Pericles only issued Burns with a yellow. He also handed out bookings to the Addicks' 16-year-old midfielder John Ross and our left-back Alan Gray before the break. Of course, the teams did try to play some football during all this. Our best chance to open the scoring came on 33 minutes, when Garside's low drive was stopped by Kostas Chalkias. That missed opportunity would be costly, as it was Charlton who broke the deadlock 11 minutes into the second half. Veteran left-back Ijah Anderson floated in a cross that was headed in by Athletic's leading scorer Glen Crowe. Cherno came within inches of drawing us level in the 59th minute, just before John Forde made two crucial saves in our goal to stop Ross or Charlton captain Tranquillo Barnetta from doubling the hosts' lead. Forde then produced more heroics to win a one-on-one with Athletic forward Darren Huckerby in the 76th minute... but not before the 34-year-old fell theatrically in the penalty area! Incredibly, the referee fell for the Addick's antics hook, line and sinker - and pointed to the penalty spot! Sol Campbell and several other Kidderminster players argued with Mr Pericles, insisting that Forde had never touched Huckerby. I certainly had not seen any contact from where I was standing. Even so, the ref waved away our protests, and our sense of injustice only grew when Crowe converted his spot-kick to give Charlton a 2-0 win - a win that they perhaps didn't completely deserve. Charlton Athletic - 2 (Crowe 56,pen77) Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 8,889 - POSITIONS: Charlton 8th, Kidderminster 11th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Forde; Heikkinen, Campbell, Bell; Berntsson (Gallego), Gray (Hyde); Robinson, Derry; Garside; Samba, Berry (Scott). I was furious at full-time... but not so much with my team. I had never seen a refereeing performance as inept - perhaps even as downright biased - as Mark Pericles had given. The man in black might as well have been the man in red, such was his favouritism towards Charlton. The next day, I was on the phone to the FA's head of refereeing to file a complaint against Mr Pericles. The official came back to me the next week and said that he agreed with my assessment of the official's performance, and that he would review his future performances. I hoped for some fairer officiating in our next match at Sheffield United, which really was 'must-win' if we were to stay in the play-off hunt. Good news: our top scorer David Collins was back from injury. Bad news: our second-top scorer Cherno Samba was now on the sidelines with a twisted knee. 17 APRIL 2010: Sheffield United vs Kidderminster Harriers Sheffield United striker Billy Paynter was locked in a fierce battle with Birmingham's Andy Johnson to finish as the league's top scorer. Paynter went into this game on 22 goals and quicky got his first shot at number 23... but our returning Spanish stopper Unai pressured him into firing clean over the bar. We had another scare right at the end of the first half, when Paynter's colleague Jimmy Moran - playing just off the lone striker in attacking midfield - headed Ben Muirhead's cross against the post. At the other end, we'd been restricted to just one David Collins volley midway through the half, which went nowhere near the target. The second half was almost as dire as the first, with neither team ever looking capable of breaking the deadlock. Collins had the game's only shot on target after 69 minutes, but it was struck too softly to seriously worry Justin Bray in the Blades' goal. This was a match pretty much everyone at Bramall Lane wanted to forget about - especially Alan Gray, who replaced Kiddy left-back Kevin Hyde at half-time, only to need replacing himself when he hurt his ankle in the 75th minute. Sheffield United - 0 Kidderminster Harriers - 0 Division 1, Attendance 16,029 - POSITIONS: Sheff Utd 12th, Kidderminster 11th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (4-1-3-2): Forde; Berntsson, Campbell, Unai, Hyde (Gray (Miller)); Heikkinen; Derry, S Simpson, Robinson; Scott (Graham), Collins. That was almost certainly the end of our play-off hopes. With four games to go, we now sat 10 points adrift of 6th. To make matters worse, Gray had strained his ankle ligaments and was out for the season. Despite subbing him off at half-time after such a woeful performance, I had no choice but to start Hyde again when we hosted Huddersfield just two days later. 19 APRIL 2010: Kidderminster Harriers vs Huddersfield Town Jeff Whitley was back in the Kidderminster midfield for a rare appearance - but after just six minutes, I was already regretting it. The 31-year-old looked far too weak when he tried to stop a solo run from Huddersfield striker Peter Sjölund, who capped it off with an unstoppable strike into the top corner. To be fair to Whitley, the Northern Irishman redeemed himself a little by playing a role in our equaliser eight minutes before half-time. Whitley crossed from the right wing to the left, where full-back Kevin Hyde sent it back in the other direction. As Huddersfield's defence struggled to react, Robert Garside took possession and laid it off for David Collins, whose 14th goal of the season made it 1-1! Our relief didn't last long, as Huddersfield replicated their first-half display by (re)taking the lead six minutes into the second half. Don O'Riordan's side capped off an excellent passing move when captain Paul Anthony's square ball was tapped in by Irish midfield playmaker Éamonn Maher - a 20-year-old Rangers loanee who surely has a bright future. I'm afraid that this was another poor performance for our goalkeeper John Forde, who had conceded twice from Huddersfield's first two shots on target. He did make it third time lucky in the 60th minute - but he really was lucky, needing a couple of attempts to keep his hands on Sjölund's free-kick. The final half-hour saw more misery for the home fans, as Jamie Berry headed wide an equalising opportunity in the 79th minute, thus bringing our play-off dream to an official end. Kidderminster Harriers - 1 (Collins 37) Huddersfield Town - 2 (Sjölund 6, Maher 51) Division 1, Attendance 6,566 - POSITIONS: Kidderminster 13th, Huddersfield 17th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Forde; Heikkinen, Miller (Bell), Unai; Gallego, Hyde; Whitley (Howe), Derry; Collins; Garside (Scott), Berry. BOOKED: Miller. The miracle was over - and I wasn't surprised. If you're being outplayed at home by a lower-half team like Huddersfield, you don't even deserve to be in the play-off position. This result also confirmed in my mind that certain players were not good enough to stay with us for the next phase of our Division 1 adventure. Hyde especially was hopeless at this level, so when Division 3 Plymouth offered to sign him on a free transfer for next season, I was happy to let them have him. Former captain Barry Miller would also be leaving in the summer. His contract was up for renewal, but at the age of 34 and with his performances declining, there was no point in a renewal. Barry would be given a fitting Aggborough send-off in our final home game of the season against Notts County on 1 May. With nothing at stake in our last three matches, I decided to use the opportunity to blood some of our younger players. Teenagers Bradley Howe, Jamie Berry and Paul Graham all started, as did 21-year-old right-back Paul Fowler, when we visited an Aston Villa side who had recently secured their survival. 23 APRIL 2010: Aston Villa vs Kidderminster Harriers Aston Villa's experienced goalkeeper Sander Westerveld almost gifted us the opening goal after 18 minutes. The 35-year-old Dutchman's goal kick was cut out by Robert Garside, who sent Jamie Berry clean through to score. Sadly, the 18-year-old's dream of scoring at Villa Park was snatched from him, as the offside flag was raised against his strike partner Paul Graham. Villa bounced back from their scare to break the deadlock in the 25th minute. Graeme McCulloch had been one of the stand-out players in Division 1 this season, and the explosive centre-forward got his 25th goal contribution of the campaign with a savage strike from Youssef Safri's through-ball. To further compound our misery, 17-year-old midfielder Bradley Howe was forced off just six minutes later after straining his ankle ligaments. Things seemed to be taking a turn for the better in the 44th minute, as Berry capped off a fine passing move by executing a cool low finish that could not be taken away from him. Unfortunately, our lead lasted barely a minute before Shaun Derry mindlessly gave away possession, allowing Villa to launch a quick counter-attack that ended with McCulloch scoring again. 2-1 to the hosts at half-time. If our youngsters looked overawed playing at the biggest stadium in the league, though, they did a fine job of hiding it. Six minutes after the restart, Lee Watson fed the ball out right to wing-back Paul Fowler, who was making his first league start of the season. Fowler marked the occasion with his first senior assist, delivering a sweet cross that namesake Graham headed in, silencing around 25,000 home fans! The Villans sought a response through one of their emerging talents - Wales Under-21s midfielder Gareth Davies, whose 71st-minute volley hit the post. Davies also created an opportunity for the more experienced Irish international Stephen McPhail, but a strong save from John Forde kept our share of the spoils. Regardless of where the teams were in the table, a 2-2 draw at Villa Park was still a fine result as far as I was concerned! Aston Villa - 2 (McCulloch 25,45) Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Berry 44, Graham 51) Division 1, Attendance 28,506 - POSITIONS: Aston Villa 18th, Kidderminster 12th KIDDERMINSTER LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Forde; Heikkinen, Campbell, Bell; Fowler, Unai (Fitzgerald); Howe (Watson), Derry; Garside (Collins); Graham, Berry. Sadly, Howe's knee injury meant he would play no further part in our season. Worryingly, it was the second time Bradley had hurt that knee in barely a month. We've already got one fragile young midfielder in the squad, and I really don't want another!