SKIPPER Ian Clarkson today issued a rallying call to Kidderminster Harriers' struggling troops whose dramatic slump in form has put them under threat of being sucked into a relegation dogfight.

Two wins in their last 18 Nation-wide League Division Three outings has left them just eight points off the bottom of the table and in urgent need of a victory over Shrewsbury Town at Aggbor-ough on Saturday.

Former Birmingham City captain Clarkson said: "We have got seven games left and we are not going to stop up with the 44 points we have got now.

"We have got to get another five or six and we have got three homes matches left.

"Because we are not doing anything away our home games are becoming critical for us now, so we have got to get something out of those. We have been talking about it, but talk is cheap as they say, we have got to start producing it. The quality is there, it's just about doing it on the day."

Kidderminster, without a win in their last eight league outings, have suffered severely for not taking their chances in recent games, including last week's clash at the Gay Meadow when Shrewsbury clinched a 1-0 victory with a 90th minute goal.

This Saturday, however, Clarkson and Co. know there will be no room for missed opportunities, particularly in view of their testing run-in to the end of the season.

After the Shrews clash, Harriers' two remaining home games will be against Plymouth Argyle and Hartlepool together with trips to Macclesfield, Chesterfield, Cheltenham and York.

Thirty-year-old defender Clarkson, however, admits that Harriers are "pretty down at the minute".

He said: "Confidence is low. Everybody who watches us can tell we need something from somewhere to spark us off.

"It's up to us to do that, but we are struggling."

Clarkson admits that Kidderminster's uphill battle for much needed points is affecting him and the rest of the players.

"You are always thinking about it. You try to turn off and forget about it but it's difficult as you obviously look at the league tables and at the season's results.

"We need to get some results. It's a long season but if you look over this year we have hardly got any results at all.

"You should always enjoy your football, but I don't know anybody who enjoys it when you keep losing.

"I'm certainly not enjoying it at the moment because we are not winning, but it's only us who can put it right.

"Last Saturday at Exeter we gave them a 2-0 start and then really we were on top for 70 minutes. We had far more chances than they did but you can't keep on saying that can you?"

Clarkson's fellow defender Scott Stamps believes Harriers can avoid getting dragged into a relegation tussle, saying: "Hopefully, it will go well and we'll start getting a few wins soon."

And Stamps is convinced the tide could well turn against Shrewsbury this Saturday.

"At Shrewsbury it was a late goal that beat us, but we played half decent and created a few chances. We had a few one on ones in the first half but never finished them off.

Chances

"But we are fancying our chances against them on our pitch where we can play a bit of football because their pitch was not the best.

"Every team is beatable, but we are just not clicking together as a team at the moment. Once we get that going hopefully we'll start getting the points again.

"We are creating chances again now whereas when we were getting 0-0 draws we weren't and we were defending a lot more.

"But we are starting to attack again and we have just got to finish off our goal scoring opportunities."