NEIL Howarth is expecting a reaction from his troops against Stevenage Borough on Tuesday night after realistically ending their play-off hopes with defeat to Northwich today.

Harriers' winless run continued this afternoon and even though Harriers are now virtually out of contention for the play-offs, there are still eight league games remaining.

That was the view taken by Assistant Manager Neil Howarth, who spoke to the press after today's game.

"Realistically it's a bad result for us as far as out play-off hopes go," he said.

"We're disappointed with a lot of things today - we never really got started and it was a bad goal to give away - after then we had plenty of huff and puff without really looking like we'd get an equaliser or another goal.

"It was a bad day, plenty of effort but no sort of guile or cuteness around the box.

"We've come in again today and seen some of the results go our way and now we're left thinking 'what if?'

"There are going to be plenty of teams around the country in mid-table with not a lot to play for but they're professional footballers and it's their job to be up for games.

"We've got to be the same. We want to go to Stevenage and win on Tuesday."