Harborough Town boss Austin says Poppies date shows how far club has come

The Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central leaders head to the Bee Hive for a derby date on on Wednesday, protecting their five-point lead at the top of the table.

It will be the first time the clubs have met in the league at the home of Harborough, with the very first league clash between the sides earlier this season ending in a 1-1 draw at Latimer Park back in August.

The Poppies are one of the oldest and most respected clubs in the non-League ladder, having been formed way back in 1872, while Harborough Town has only been in existence since 2007.

The Bees were in the United Counties League as recently as 2022, but the two clubs meet on a level playing field at the Bee Hive on the first day of 2025, and Austin, a former assistant boss at the Poppies, is proud that he is leading the team into such a notable and special fixture.

"Kettering is an old club of mine, they are the big club in the area and have been doing absolutely fantastic," said the Bees boss.

"It is weird now that we talk about it as a bit of a derby, certainly at our end.

"They won't call it that at their end, they will call us tinpot, but it shows how far we have come.

"We will welcome the Poppies, I have had some really good times there and I am actually really pleased they are doing really well.

"So as much as some may slag us off a little bit, I just want to let the true die-hard fans know they are more than welcome here, and I hope they have a brilliant day.

"I hope we then ruin their day with the scoreline, but they are on a fabulous run and fair play to them.

"We admire Kettering massively for who they are and for what they've done in football, and that is only something we can try and emulate.

"Will we get there? Probably not, becaused they are such a historic club, but if we can clamber ourselves up the table, and get ourselves safe in this division, after the FA Cup run we have had as well, then I think we will have had a brilliant season.

"Certainly for a team as young as ours."

Harborough go into the game off the back of an excellent 4-0 win over Leiston Town on Saturday, having fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Barwell on Boxing Day.

Those results have lifted them up to 17th in the table, two points above the drop zone, but they still only remain outside the bottom four on goal difference.

The win over Leiston was the latest in a hectic run of fixtures for Harborough, and Austin revealed his players were given a few days' deserved rest after that victory.

"We will chill out," Austin told @HarbTownFC when asked if the squad would train ahead of the Poppies showdown.

"It is still Christmas, it is still family time and we have to try and get the balance right.

"We are non-League, we're not full-time, so we have to give them their time away from football.

"They have worked really hard, they will look after themselves, and will be focused on the Kettering game, which is a big game for us."

Fans are reminded that Wednesday's clash is all-ticket for both sets of supporters, and there will be no general admission on the day.