Saturday, November 30,2002

ANGRY boss Ian Britton has warned his players to "shape up or ship out" after Kidderminster Harriers suffered two defeats in a row for the first time this season.

Harriers followed up Tuesday's FA Cup exit at Rushden and Diamonds with a 2-1 loss at Division Three leaders Hartlepool United.

They were lucky their second away league defeat was not embarrassing after a shaky defensive display threatened to gift Hartlepool a hatful of goals.

Britton's men were 2-0 down inside 16 minutes, prompting the Harriers manager to question whether his players have the bottle to sustain a play-off challenge as they dropped to 10th in the table.

Britton raged: "Whether it takes me four weeks or six weeks or until the end of the season, they will do it the way I want them to. If it means I have to change players, then believe me, I will.

"I wonder if some of them have got the bottle for the fight. We are too nicey, nicey. Maybe we have had an Indian summer. Maybe it's now too much for some of them but I'm not going to let it keep happening."

Harriers endured a nightmare start as Hartlepool midfielder Ritchie Humph-reys celebrated his 25th birthday with a fourth-minute opener, running clear onto a Marcus Richardson pass to finish clinically past 'keeper Stuart Brock.

The visitors were cut open again on 16 minutes when Eifion Williams escaped down the right and cut the ball across for Mark Tinkler to tap home.

Brock kept Harriers in the game with fine saves to deny Richardson and Williams, while Drewe Broughton hit the post at the other end six minutes before half-time after good work from on-loan Andy Bishop.

Sean Parrish's excellent angled chip, his first goal for Kidderminster, from a Bo Henriksen pass gave them hope on 47 minutes.

And though Brock tipped over well from Williams soon after, Bishop should have levelled on 73 minutes. The striker sliced Broughton's nod-down wastefully wide from six yards following a good cross from influential skipper Sean Flynn.

A frustrated Britton admitted afterwards: "We were poor in the first half and Hartlepool could have had four or five goals. We are miles away from what we were doing five or six weeks ago.

"The goals we are letting in are not even schoolboy errors. I wouldn't let the youth team get away with it.

"We've played the two top teams in this division this week and I don't think they're that much better than us. They might not have better players than us but what they do have is the right players in the right areas who do their jobs."