Harvest boss Harris taking the ‘positives’ from tough Hampshire Premier League Cup campaign

Harvest celebrate scoring in their opening Hampshire Premier League Cup group tie with Clanfield, but it's been tough going for them ever since. Pic: Martyn White.

Numerous injuries have contributed to the Hampshire Premier League Division 1 club suffering three straight group losses after opening with a 1-0 victory over Clanfield.

Harvest fired a third successive blank in losing 1-0 to divisional rivals Denmead at the weekend, Callum Grigg on target after 72 minutes.

They now finish off their season with two games against group winners Paulsgrove, away on Wednesday and at Front Lawn next Saturday.

‘You wouldn’t believe the injuries we’ve had,’ lamented Harris.

‘I’d say we had eight players out on Saturday who would have been in the starting XI.

‘We only had 13 players. I had to play 30 minutes in midfield and Lee Caldwell - another old head - played the last half-hour with blisters as we’d used our subs.

‘We didn’t vote for this cup, but we’re fulfilling our fixtures.

‘I’m taking the positives - we’re showing togetherness, we’re fighting for each other and we’re trying to play good football.

‘We signed a lad from Meon Milton, Leon Snow, he’s only just 18 and he’s having to play at centre half.

‘It’s a hell of a jump from the Mid-Solent League to the Hampshire Prem, and we’re playing three very good sides. But Leon is learning and improving with every game.

‘We’ll get these two (Paulsgrove) games out of the way and concentrate on next season.

‘We’ve got 13 new players coming in, a lot of youngsters, a lot of quality, that will make us better for next season.

‘Some of friends of friends, some are friends of players, and my assistant Wayne (Lowton) runs the Freehouse Sunday side and some players are coming from there.

‘Before this cup began we took some of the (Freehouse) players to Kingsclere where we played two different XIs in two hour-long games.’