Match Preview | Harborough Town (A)

Halesowen travel to the in-form side of 2025 Harborough Town with the aim of staying on top

Written by Ben Ditchfield

The Yeltz make the 60 mile journey to The BeeHive as they face up against fifth placed Harborough Town who are currently eight league games unbeaten and have picked up 33 points so far in 2025, four more than Bedford Town who come second in the list.

This will be just the fourth meeting between the two since Harborough were formed in 1975. In the three previous, the Yeltz have won the trio, and have conceded just once. The meetings all saw different managers in the dugout, Paul Smith, Martin Sockett and Craig Nicholls, and Russ Penn. The Yeltz have scored five goals in the three matches from five different scorers, Kieren Donnelly, Simeon Cobourne, Josh Ezewele, Jamie Insall and Nathan Hayward. The most recent meeting was back in September on a chilly Tuesday night at The Grove. Donnelly got the only goal in the game, inside the first 10 minutes of the 1-0 victory.

I caught up with the current Yeltz boss during the week to catch his thoughts ahead of the game. "I was very pleased with the win over Lowestoft last week. It is difficult against a side in the bottom four who are fighting for their lives. A win was expected for us, but after the start and the how nervous the crowd went, i thought at the time, we are in a proper game here. We responded brilliantly and controlled the game very well after the half hour mark. My only criticism is we need to be more clinical in the final third, but the result is the only thing that matters in March.

"We have a good goalscoring record in the 15 minute spell before half-time, but i do not tend to look into stats like that too much. Our record in the second half is good too when we are level on terms. We try to be competitive throughout the 90 minutes, but the big positive for me is how well we are finishing games. We take each games as it comes. Yes we have won our last four and are unbeaten in seven, but i only look into the next fixture. We know we are going to a difficult place this Saturday, they have a good 4G pitch, a surface we tend to do well. It should suit us, and i am looking forward to going there to hopefully continue our run.

"Harborough are a very competitive team. I expected them to be near the top at the start of the season. They did not start the season great, but they done brilliant to turn it around and record 33 points so far this year. It is going to be a fantastic top 5 clash. They are physical, aggressive and have momentum, and won promotion last year, so they know how do deal with this kind of pressure and position. We will respect them and watched them at Bromsgrove during the week, and last week against so we know what to expect.

"Ben Stephens for Harborough is a top player. Someone who should be playing higher up the level. I know the way he plays from the times I managed Kiddie against him when he played for King's Lynn Town, and other teams in the National North. We need to be prepared for him, a player with 18 league goals is a huge threat and someone we need to monitor positional wise for the whole game. We have our own threats too, which they will have to worry about. But we know a lot about every side at this stage of the season, and the focus just has to be on what we do and how we perform."

Harborough boss Mitch Austin spent four years and four months as assistant boss at Kettering Town and St Ives Town respectively between 2014 and 2020. The 36 year old joined The Bees in October 2020. In the 2021/22 campaign, he steered them to promotion from step 5 with 102 points and 119 goals scored. After two seasons at step 4, Austin achieved promotion via the play-offs with his side, after they overcome the setback of a point deduction while at the top of the league, with just two games left to play. Austin has been in charge of 194 games, where he has achieved a remarkable 67% win ratio. His side have scored a toal of 420 goals during his tenure, and conceded an average of just 0.92 goals per game throughout his current four and a half year spell.

The Bees have had one ever present this season. Josh Walsh, who has featured 44 times and been at the heart of Austin's midfield. Midfielder Alex Morris, goalkeeper Elliott Taylor and forward Riley O'Sullivan have also featured in at least 40 matches. Taylor in fact has kept 11 clean sheets this league campaign, only Banbury United's Jack Harding (15), and Stamford's Tom Jackson (13) have kept more. Harborough have had 15 players feature at least 20 times in the league, more than any other side. Their top scorer this season Ben Stephens, has managed to find the net 23 times in all competitions, 18 of which in the league. Stephens has scored five times this month, more than any other player.

Harborough have scored first in 58% (21/36) of their league games this campaign, only Stamford with 66% (24/36) have a higher percentage. Austin's side are extremely prolific in the second half of matches. Only Kettering Town (43), and Bedford Town (42) have scored more than Harborough's 35 goals. This has resulted in them scoring just 20 goals in the first half, a 45 minute period where only four sides have been less prolific. In fact first half goals as a whole are rare in The Bees matches. Only Stourbridge (12), and Banbury United (14) have conceded fewer goals in the first 45 than Harborough's 15.

When they do score in the first period, goals tend to come early. Only Bedford Town (14), and Alvechurch (10) have scored more goals in the first 15 minutes of matches than The Bees nine. On top of that, Austin's side do not let many in during that period either, as his team have conceded just two goals all season between minutes 1 and 15. Harborough's most prolific period of the game, is no doubt after the 75th minute. Austin's side have scored a whopping 22 goals in the final 15 minutes of matches, an unsurprising league high.

Key Seasonal Stats

Harborough

League Position - 5th

Season Record - PL44 22W 10D 12L 73GS 52GC

Form (Last 5 Games) - DWWWD

Top Scorer - Ben Stephens (23 Goals)

Most Appearances - Josh Walsh (44)

Most Starts - Josh Walsh (44)

Biggest League Win - 4-0 vs Leiston & Bishop's Stortford (Home - 28th December & Away - 22nd March)

Biggest League Defeat - 3-0 vs Hitchin Town & 4-1 vs St Ives Town (Away - 16th November & 14th December)

Longest Unbeaten Run - 8 Games (1st February - present)

Longest Winless Run - 3 Games (10th August - 24th August & 9th November - 23rd November)