ADAM Murray wants his Kidderminster Harriers side to develop ‘winning habits’ in pre-season following a 1-0 victory against Halesowen Town.
Murray found himself in the Aggborough dugout for the first time as Harriers boss with former Kidderminster manager Russ Penn in the opposite dugout.
A goal from summer signing Kurt Willoughby settled the contest and ensured Murray made a winning start in his first home game in charge of the club.
And after making a number of new signings this summer, Murray admits it may take a little bit of time before his players start to gel on the pitch.
Murray said: “We’re not going to get promotion or push for a title without some steel and a winning mentality.
“It’s a learning curve, we’ve gone from being a really experienced team last season to quite a young team this season.
“There’s learning and development going on, the squad we’ve put together and the way we’re trying to do things – I back these boys against anybody.
“We’ve just got to find our consistency of our rhythm and flow. When we do that, the chances start going in and we’ll create more chances.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re pushing standards, it’s all about winning and that’s good because that creates habits.
“When it does click there’s some really good bits in there. I want it all to be perfect for the first game of the season.
“We have to be patient just because of the amount of new players and new ideas we’ve put in.
“It might take a couple of weeks, the boys are trying to carry out what we’re asking of them.
“We just need to be a bit more clinical and we have to get out of that pre-season mindset.”
A flowing move brought about the game’s only goal on 67 minutes as Willoughby raced into the box and fired a shot across goal past advancing Yeltz goalkeeper Dan Platt.
However, Step Three opponents Halesowen spurned a number of chances to draw level in the final quarter hour.
And Murray wants his side to try and escape the mindset of pre-season with the club’s first National League North fixture just over a week away.
Murray added: “When you play against the better Step Three teams, you get a real feel of where your team is at.
“There was a good energy to the game and a good competitiveness.
“It took a moment of magic to break it down, we should have punished them more with the opportunities we had.
“We could have had three or four and they had a couple of chances when the game became a bit open but there’s loads we need to work on.
“The last 15 minutes we were still in pre-season mindset, we were giving away opportunities when we should be killing the game off.”
A flowing move brought about the game’s only goal on 67 minutes as Willoughby raced into the box and fired a shot across goal past advancing Yeltz goalkeeper Dan Platt.
