PHIL Brown admits he did not prepare his Kidderminster Harriers side correctly after letting the title slip out of their hands on the final day of the season.
Harriers lost 2-1 away at Southport at the Big Help Stadium – a result which allowed Brackley Town to claim the National League North title and promotion.
Brown’s men went into the final day top of the table on goal difference and knew a win would secure the title and promotion back to the National League at the first attempt.
Kidderminster must now go through the play-offs and slipped to third in the table after Scunthorpe United won away at Hereford.
Harriers will play either Chester or Buxton in a home semi-final on Sunday, May 4.
And Brown admits he needs to galvanise his players and did not see his side’s final day slip up coming.
Brown said: “We’re feeling devastated for the right reasons, the fact that we lost the game and the game had a lot hanging on it.
“Winning the game would have got us promoted, I think everybody has attached too much to that, you attach the whole season to one game of football and then don’t step up to the plate.
“I think I prepared the team wrong, we looked like we had lead in our boots, there was no energy in the team, I didn’t see it coming.
“I’ve got to apologise to every punter who came fully expecting a performance worthy of saying the words pride and hope.
“I can’t really berate the players, I can only think I haven’t prepared them in the right way for one game which is probably the biggest game in Kidderminster’s history for a long time.
“If it’s my fault, it’s my fault but It’s not over yet.
“The bottom line is we’ve got to win two games of football now to get promoted.
“It’s not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve got to do something to galvanise the group who looked out on their feet.”
Harriers fell behind on 33 minutes when the visitors failed to deal with a corner from the left and Tom Moore finished from close range following a scramble in the box.
And Southport doubled their lead one minute after half time as Danny Philliskirk fired a shot into the bottom left corner from 25-yards out.
Kidderminster reduced the deficit on 59 minutes when Reiss McNally finished at the back post after Chris Renshaw could only push a near-post flick into the scorer’s path.
However, Harriers failed to find the two goals needed to win the title as Brackley – who thrashed bottom-of-the-table Farsley Celtic 5-0 – pounced to take top spot.
The defeat brings an end to Kidderminster’s 13-game unbeaten run in the league and Brown felt his players did not turn up for their biggest game of the season.
Brown added: “I was looking for help outside of the pitch when I’ve not needed any help outside of the pitch, they’ve just got on with it.
“The performance was all the bad words in football, poor decisions, no energy, nobody taking control of the game, nobody seemed as if they had any bottle to try and win the game.
“It’s beyond me, I’ve been in the game a long time, that performance was so uncharacteristic of us, I didn’t see it coming in the slightest.
“They looked lacklustre, they looked as is the pressure was getting to them. Nobody has a divine right to win a game of football.
“The whole thing was geared towards one decent performance and it’s really baffled me.
“On the biggest day of the season we just didn’t turn up, we’ve thrown this opportunity away.”
