Harborough boss Mitch wants to turn the ‘big three’ into the ‘big four’

Mitch Austin and his Harborough Town staff will be plotting a derby-day success at Corby Town this weekend

And he would love to start that process when the Bees head to Corby Town in a big Northern Premier League Midlands derby on Saturday.

Harborough’s rise into Step 4 has been impressive and they have already established themselves at the higher level with a superb 3-0 win over Loughborough Dynamo last weekend being further evidence of that.

And Austin now wants his club’s name spoken in the same breath as other teams in the area.

It’s set to be an emotionally-charged day at Steel Park on Saturday as Corby play their first home game since the untimely death of their long-serving club president and secretary Gerry Lucas.

And Bees boss Austin said: “First and foremost, I, my players, our staff and our officials want to send our condolences to Corby after the death of Gerry Lucas and we will be honoured to do whatever we need to do to honour his memory on Saturday.

“I respect Corby, it’s a massive club and I want to try to break into the big three in this area and make it a big four.

“When I say that, what I mean is that in our area we have Kettering Town, AFC Rushden & Diamonds and Corby Town and nobody else is spoken about.

“I want Harborough Town sitting alongside them. We are a progressive club and what we have done up until now is really good.

“But that’s the aim, to make it a big four and we will start by trying our best against Corby on Saturday.

“Loughborough had beaten Stamford on the Tuesday night so we knew we were up against a top, top side and, to be fair, there was only one winner.

“We were fantastic and the boys put in their most complete performance of the season.

“It stands us in good stead for this tough run. We don’t fear anybody but we respect everyone.

“We are now in a position where we are in a derby with a club as big as Corby so that shows the club’s development and progress and the next stage will be trying to beat them.

“We’ve had a bit of a poor run over the last six weeks but we are still in and around them and if we get a positive result on Saturday we will be one game and two points behind them.

“So, in perspective, we are doing alright for who we are.”