CHAIRMAN Barry Norgrove has given Kidderminster Harriers boss Stuart Watkiss the dreaded vote of confidence ahead of this weekend's high pressure clash with Morecambe.
Watkiss has come under fire during the club's slump of four defeats in five games and is in desperate need of a morale-boosting win against the Shrimpers.
But Norgrove - currently facing the Aggborough public's wrath for the first time since taking over the boardroom hotseat in the summer - insists there is no need for kneejerk reactions.
"It's far too early and we've got to give him a fair crack of the whip," said Norgrove, who will attend the monthly board meeting with Watkiss and the directors tonight.
"He hasn't been in the job long and we haven't lost many games this season. I've got faith in him to turn it around.
"He's working very hard. He isn't a manager that fritters money away and he's determined to do his best with what he's got."
Norgrove revealed that a play-off place remained Harriers' aim for their first campaign back in the Conference- but admitted it might take a late-season push to get them into the top five.
"It might be a case of us being halfway up the table for a lot of the season," he admitted.
"Obviously the play-offs are where we want to be and we need to give ourselves a chance of making it.
"If it looks like we've got a chance of doing it when the January transfer window opens we might be able to push it a little bit further."
Norgrove insisted that the summer of turmoil at Aggborough had hardly helped the manager's cause - and revealed that Watkiss was operating with several "second choice" players.
"We wanted to get the situation with Lionel Newton resolved much earlier over the summer and that has had a knock-on effect," he said.
"Stuart wanted to bring players in quickly and obviously he missed out on some of his first choice targets.
"He picked one or two up but a lot of them went to other clubs so it has been difficult for him to get the squad he wanted together."
Meanwhile, Harriers look set to be given a massive boost with the return of their Mr Motivator, player-coach Martin O'Connor, on Saturday.
The squad took part in a full-sided practice match yesterday and provided O'Connor shows no ill-effects he will be back in the midfield engine room against Jim Harvey's men.
Terry Fleming is set to return alongside him after completing his one-match ban for his sending off at Crawley.
Watkiss has refused to let speculation about his future affect him, saying: "I've got no control over what people say about me, I've just got to work to the best of my ability," he said.
"I'm not hiding behind the problems of the summer because I know and my players know that we're better than we've showed."
Saturday's match kicks off at 1pm.
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