Boss Austin makes plea to Harborough fans to turn out in big numbers

The Bees’ title hopes were scuppered last week when it was confirmed they have been docked six points for fielding an ineligible player in two matches earlier in the season, and Spalding’s 7-1 win at Sporting Khalsa on Saturday confirmed Town cannot now win the league.

That means they will have to win promotion via the play-offs, with their semi-final due to be played next Tuesday (April 30), but first they have a final home league game to play this weekend.

The Bees host Loughborough Dynamo (ko 3pm) needing a win to give themselves a chance of finishing second in the table, and guaranteeing home advantage in the play-offs.

“If the fans can come down in numbers, at the moment we need it,” Austin told @HarbTownFC. “We need a big crowd because this is a big moment in our history.

“Whether we win, lose or draw in the play-offs, these are big moments, and they could be the extra man or woman to be able to see us through.

"Please come and cheer us on.”

The Bees shrugged off their off-field woes last weekend as they travelled to Sutton Coldfield Town and won 1-0, with Connor Kennedy’s 15th-minute strike winning it.

“Going into the game with the news we had, it probably had a bit of a pre-season feel to it,” admitted Austin.

“There wasn’t massive pressure to win or lose.

“We were aware for a long time what was going on but we carried on being consistent, and that rolled into this match.

“I don’t think we played badly, we created a lot of opportunities and if we could have finished them then it would have been a different scoreline.”

And looking beyond Saturday and to the play-off bid, the Bees boss admitted: “The players are gutted, but we spoke about it and about trying to forget about it and move on.

"But when the news did hit it was hard.

“The players are positive, they are still grinding out results and they could have easily thrown it in. We now have to have a determination to try and win the play-offs.”