HARSH DEFEAT FOR MARKETMEN

Needham Market's final home game of 2025 ended in a 3-1 defeat to fellow promotion chasers Harborough Town.

Dan Morphew and Seth Chambers returned to the starting eleven, as Academy midfielder Kell Fiddy - and made his first team debut late on - took Brad Smith's place on the bench.

Luke Ingram had an early chance, hitting a volley from 50 yards out wide of the bottom corner.

The Marketmen broke the deadlock with a smart move in the fifth minute. Kyle Hammond exchanged a neat quick one-two with Cowling to cross low for an unmarked Ryan Miles to cooly find the bottom corner.

Harborough though equalised on 13 minutes, after good defending from Ingram and Smith dealt with Walsh's cross, the resulting delivery was turned home by Kamara.

The game gradually grew into an end to end contest as time wore on, after Harborough had the better of the possession.

Needham went close to restoring their lead, brilliant run from Cowling down the left wing, who then slid in Miles, whose low shot went just agonisingly wide.

Ingram then fired wide after a great ball from James Bradbrook, prior to Smith and Cowling exchanging five passes for the latter to force Elliott Taylor to fly to his right and punch away his ferocious strike.

After Ingram saw an effort punched clear, Chambers spun his man well only to fire low at Taylor.

In response at the other end, a terrific flying save from James Bradbrook denied Peterborough United loanee David Kamara's venomous strike which Bradbrook expertly reacted well to tip over!

Following the break, Chambers flicked Hammond's cross into Taylor's chest, while the visitors took the lead arguably against the run of play. Elliott Taylor's goal-kick threaded Arlott-John clear on goal to lash into the roof of the net.

Miles however had a looping shot smartly tipped over by Taylor, though Bradbrook denied Kamara soon after.

Cowling was thwarted by Taylor, as Hammond saw a late rasping shot importantly tipped over.

Eddie Barker nearly equalised, but poked just over as Ben Stephens settled the game, stealing in to round Bradbrook and net a late crucial third.

Manager Tom Rothery said, "very disappointing. There was a lot to like, but unfortunately I think all three goals from us are really poor that we've conceded today, but credit to them, but the goals that we've given away are really poor. It's very difficult to win football games if you give goals like that away. When we scored the first goal, we were still 80 minutes to go. So, you've got to take your chances. You've got to be better in their box, which we weren't, and you've also got to defend better. The lads are very annoyed, which they should be. Really, you've just got to defend those moments better. They're just two long punts forward, and the first one's obviously just from a set-piece. We've not reacted well enough to the second phase of the play. Their lad, the number 10, has done well. Reacted quicker, gambled, anticipated where it was going to land and finished well. The second and third goals are just poor.

I mean, the third goal, we're chasing the game. You still can't defend like that. It's just a poor goal. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the second and the third goal are basically just long punts, flick-ons.

And their players throw on goals. You just can't defend like that. I thought we was on top for most of the game, really. I thought the first half was really even. I thought they came out really positive in the second half and tried to put us on the back foot.

I thought we dealt with that really well. I thought we were the better team, personally,but, like I said, credit to them.

It would have been a tough week for them. They had a big game last Saturday against Carlisle. Then Wednesday, obviously, with the travel.

And the pitch was really heavy. That would have been really tough for them, but you've got to give them a lot of credit. They've defended their box really well today. I think we just haven't shown enough quality on the day.

The keeper's made a couple of good saves. We've just not shown enough quality on the day, whether that be decision-making, whether that be the final cross, the shot, whatever it is. They've stuck in the game and weathered storms and, like I said, then hit us with a couple of sucker punches.

"Redditch are the only team we've beaten in the playoffs. I didn't feel before today we'd laid a glove on Spalding and Harborough in either of the games that we played, but I don't think you can accuse us of that today.

Like I said, I thought we were the better team. I thought we asked them a lot of questions, but, like I said, you've got to go back to my original - you can't defend like that and expect to win games. Ultimately, if you're not going to be clinical in one box, you've got to make sure that you're really defensively switched on and you're not giving away soft goals, and we haven't done that today. Simple as that, really. We've lost two home games on the bounce. That's never going to be a good news story, but our home record in general is still good. It's not good to lose one home game on the bounce, let alone two.

So that'll be down to us to try and put that right the next time we play at home. More importantly, when you lose football games, it should never be a good feeling. So it's all about how you react and trying to put it right in the next game, which obviously we'll look to do and we'll try and do."

Looking ahead to our Trip to Leiston on the 27th, Rothery added, "it'll be tough, we know that. Leiston's never easy away from home, local derby as well. So yeah, we'll prepare like we normally do and go there and play as well as we can. Like I said, I'm very annoyed, disappointed, whatever you want to call it, but you've also got to be honest about the performance. It wasn't a bad performance like this. You've just got to defend better than we have, and overall, some of the play was really good. There was a lot to like, but that doesn't get you any points, unfortunately."

Speaking about injuries, he replied, "Dan's obviously got through 60 today. No reaction, so hopefully another week that'll be Dan sort of back to normal. Jake couldn't start today because he's still feeling his ankle, which is why he missed Banbury. So that was always the plan for him to come on and do a little bit to cover Dan. We knew Dan wouldn't get through 90.

So that's them two covered off. Again, like I said, with Jake, hopefully another week he'll be okay for next week. Joe's had a little bit of a setback. So that's a lot longer than we anticipated or expected, that's not good news, but I don't think he'll be ready for next Saturday, but we'll have to see how the week progresses and see how we get on with that.

We was hoping he would be in the squad today, obviously Ollie's banned, so he'll be available next game. It's been a bit of a strain on everyone, really. We've been low on numbers and been able to name five subs in the last two or three games. So that puts extra pressure on anyone and everyone, but that's nothing to do with today's game, other than obviously if you've got a full bench and more options on the bench, obviously when the game's at 1-1 or 2-1, maybe you can make different changes or changes where you can try and impact and affect the game. Like I said, we've done more than enough to win that game today, but we haven't because we haven't shown enough quality in the final third for, like I said, whether it's a pass across, whatever it is, or being in the right place. You just can't defend like that and expect to win football games. That's got nothing to do with how much possession you've got.

You can't defend like that."

Asked how he'd summarise the season so far, Rothery replied, "average. We're still in a good place. We're still in a reasonably good position, I think, in the fact that we're in the play-off. As much as we're annoyed and disappointed, we are still in a reasonably good position in the league. However, I've been saying it for a number of weeks now, there's things that we could do better and I still think there's more to come. Saying it and doing it are two very things, but it will definitely help us when we've got a fuller squad and obviously everyone fit as much as we can be because you are always going to have bans and injuries. Every team does. You have to deal with that, but obviously with a squad of 16, it does make it tough when you're missing one or two. I think footballing-wise, I think we've been really good, but we've got to be better in both final thirds. It's as simple as that. At the moment, that's why we're fifth and not higher, in my opinion."