Yates fumes at late goals

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BOSS Mark Yates made his frustrations clear at the nature of his team’s late collapse in the 3-3 draw at Blyth Spartans on Saturday.

Playing against ten men for much of the game and having taken a 3-1 lead, Harriers ought to have seen the game out at Croft Park.

The team ended up travelling back with just a share of the spoils, however, after a shocking late salvo ensured Blyth snatched something from the tie.

While he acknowledged the spirit with which the hosts fought, Yates was furious with the way his side fell apart so late.

“I’m disappointed and a bit embarrassed by the last five minutes,” he said at full time.

“We were 3-1 up with five minutes to go and we didn’t see the game out.

“A few words have been said in there, and not so much from me, [but] Russ and Jimmy are in there.

“…that was criminal that we’ve not seen the game out comfortably.” Mark Yates

“We’ve got this soft underbelly at times and that was criminal that we’ve not seen the game out comfortably.

“We’ve got to be better than throwing a two-goal lead.”

A win would have been a timely boost to Harriers in their quest to get themselves back in to the top seven of National League North.

As such, the late goals were something of a hammer blow – but the boss was refusing to be too downbeat on that front.

He added: “It makes it harder but we’re not throwing in the towel, believe me.

“We have 11 games to go and 33 points to play for, so we aren’t giving up any hopes of that in the slightest.

“We have to pick ourselves up, go to Ashton on Tuesday and put it right.”

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