CONSISTENCY is the key to success at whatever level you play at.
And, for us at Kidderminster Harriers at the moment, it's something that's proving very difficult to achieve.
After last Tuesday's excellent 4-1 home win over York City everybody was looking forward to Saturday's clash at Southend United to see if we could produce a similar kind of deadly display.
Sadly, we couldn't, and of course it's history now that we lost 1-0 at Roots Hall to a second minute goal from Carl Hutchings, who you may remember was one of my summer transfer targets.
Carl, though, decided to stay with Southend he certainly made us pay on Saturday!
After such contrasting fortunes against York and Southend people ask me how a side can play so well one day and then fall below an acceptable level a few days later.
It's a fair question, of course, but it's one all managers have struggled to answer at some stage of their careers, whether it's in the Premiership or the Third Division.
Needless to say, here at Aggborough, it's something that's proving very frustrating for anyone concerned -- management, players and supporters alike.
But, believe me, it's a situation we are determined to put right.
We do have a consistency level that we don't expect the players to drop below and the whole squad knows that.
After blasting four past York -- and it could well have been far more -- I can understand how disappointed the fans must have been that we went back to finding it a struggle to hit the back of the net again.
But I've said before that scoring is not just the responsibility of the strikers. It's down to everyone.
Midfielder Dean Bennett, for instance, would tell you that I regularly remind him how many months and days it is since he last scored.
That goes for others as well and at times like this everybody needs to chip in the best they can.
Drewe Broughton had his first taste of scoring this season in our win over York and said afterwards that for a striker it's the 'best feeling in the world'. It's something I'm sure he'll be experiencing again soon. Hopefully it will also apply to the players who feature tonight against Chesterfield in the second round of the LDV Vans Trophy at Saltergate.
It's a game we'd dearly like to win, of course, but our priority must be to climb up the league table.
A consistent string of wins would quickly propel us into the top half but, as we know, putting a run together is something we are finding difficult.
It would be nice to think, though, that we can start one off by beating Bristol Rovers at Aggborough on Saturday.
Before I close just a quick word about the FA Cup draw which has given us with a home tie against fellow Third Division side Darlington.
We lost 2-0 to them at Feethams in our second game of the season, so we owe them one. But first things first. Hopefully, we can get a good result at Chesterfield tonight and then produce the kind of display we achieved against York when Bristol Rovers visit us on Saturday for what will be another stern examination.
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