Austin keeping feet on the ground as Harborough Town rise to seventh

Harborough Town went into Christmas sitting in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central relegation zone.

Five matches and 13 points later, the Bees are buzzing as they have risen to seventh in the table, and just three points off the promotion play-off places!

Saturday’s 1-0 win over Hitchin at the Bee Hive was the fourth in a row for Mitch Austin’s side, with Ben Starkie’s 26th-minute strike the difference between the sides.

With only two matches in the division surviving the big freeze that hit the country at the weekend, the Bees took full advantage and the win means there is now a very healthy nine-point buffer between the Bees and the bottom four.

But ahead of Tuesday night's home date with AFC Sudbury (ko 7.45pm), manager Austin is keeping his and his players' feet firmly on the ground, insisting he is still looking over his shoulder at the bottom four despite his team's lofty position.

"It is good to be playing again so soon when you have that bit of momentum," Austin told @HarbTownFC. "There were a lot of games called off on Saturday, but luckily we have the 3G pitch.

"There are a lot of people moan about that, and a lot of people don't like it, but what it does give you is consistency, certainly at home, and it was important for us to get the three points on the board.

"With all those other games off, it bridges the gap from the teams that are in the relegation zone and gives us a little bit of breathing space.

"What I would say is, we are still looking down, we are not looking up.

"We need to remain level-headed, keep on the boil, and see where the next game takes us."

Looking back on the win over Hitchin, Austin admitted the Bees weren't at their fluid best, but he was happy with how the players dug out a crucial result.

"I was disappointed with the press in the first half," said Austin. "We wanted to go right at them with the form we were in, and with us being at home, we wanted to put pressure on them, but it didn't massively work.

"Then we kept a hold of it, and they tried to play through us and we were getting the ball back.

"It was my decision to do the press, and when the press didn't come off, the other thing worked so it didn't really matter.

"I think over the past three or four games you have seen a different style to Harborough.

"But in the second half that was probably more Harborough of old, get behind the ball, foundation stuff, and really hard working.

"Me and Staffy (assistant boss Dave Staff) said, 'look, we can't get hold of it, let's just keep doing what we are dong well, and let's just defend for our lives'.

"Hitchin didn't have many clear-cut chances, although they had a lot of the ball. There was nothing there that really hurt us."

And he added: "It was an important win for us.

"The message to the boys was, the run that we have been on has been good, but four wins on the bounce is really good.

"That takes us into Tuesday night here at home to Sudbury, and we could potentially make it five wins on the bouce.

"That is some good going, certainly from where we were at, and it just shows that football can change in the blink of an eye."