IAN Britton has issued a plea to Kidderminster Harriers supporters ahead of two crunch away trips - say what you like about me, but lay off the players.

The boss is thick-skinned enough to deal with the criticism flying at him in the wake of a seven-game winless run but insists his team need the backing of the fans more than ever.

He admitted losing is becoming an unpleasant habit but hailed his troops for their "first class" attitude in training ahead of tough trips to second-placed Hull City on Saturday and Huddersfield Town next Tuesday.

Saturday's defeat at home to Lincoln saw Harriers slump to fourth-from-bottom in the Third Division but Britton is convinced his men have what it takes to maintain their Football League status.

"All we can do is work hard in training to try to put things right," he said.

"I don't think we've been having the best of luck - we've been having some really good goals scored against us.

"But we've been making silly mistakes at both ends of the park. Both defensively and attacking we've got to be a bit better."

He added: "Nobody will give us a hope in hell of winning at Hull or Huddersfield.

"We're going to go into these two games not wanting to lose, and if that means getting a draw then fine.

"The lads have been in training this week all day every day and they've worked their nuts off. They've been first class."

The revolving door has been working overtime at Aggborough, with Adam Murray's loan spell cut short and Mickael Antoine-Curier jumping ship after a 27-minute appearance on Saturday.

"He was supposed to be coming in again but ended up going to Rochdale. That tells you something about the player."

The French striker's about-face was something Britton could have done without on top of the controversial departure of skipper Sean Flynn, which has been a source of criticism aimed at the boss.

"When you are losing fans look at things that aren't the problem. In the end it's down to the players and the staff to try to put things right.

"You don't become a bad team overnight. We've had a couple of offers for Danny Williams but he's happy to stay, so it can't all be bad.

"I have heard that many different things but nobody knows the truth about things like Flynny and all the rest of it," Britton said.

"I'm concerned because we're not getting results. But everybody's jumping on the bandwagon and talking about my lack of experience.

"They weren't saying that last year when we were doing well and now all of a sudden I'm a bad manager. The fans have got their own views, I can take all that, but at the end of the day just lay off the players."