Bees boss Mitch able to reflect on a successful debut season at Step 4

The Bees brought the curtain down on their first-ever season at Step 4 with an emphatic 6-1 win over Dereham Town at the Harborough Town Community Ground last weekend.

A sixth victory in a row, however, was not enough to see Austin’s team sneak into the Northern Premier League Midlands play-offs as they had to settle for a very respectable eighth-placed finish.

And, as he reflected on the campaign, boss Austin said: “There is a percentage of failures and a percentage of disappointments but the majority of it has been a success.

“What we need to do now is take on board what we have done, good and bad, and improve on it next season.

“We have the ability to do that, we have a young squad and a thriving club that has great potential.

“We need to recruit right because we didn’t do that perfectly at a number of stages both with staff and players.

“If we get that right, then we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

The season certainly couldn’t have finished any better for Austin’s team as they rounded things off as the form team in the division.

Paul Malone and Joel Carta both scored twice while Dylan Hill and Dodzi Agbenu were also on target as Harborough hit back from a goal down to thrash Dereham on the final day.

“We did what we needed to do,” Austin added.

“We finished as the form team with six wins out of six and 18 points. We finished strong.

“I asked the boys to celebrate but to also reflect on where we could have just done a little bit better.”