THE manager's programme notes for tonight's game against Kidderminster Harriers:

No side in football has a divine right to win every game; that's true in any level of football, not least the Blue Square Premier League.

That fact has been amply illustrated over the course of the last two weeks when we produced excellent away displays at both Kettering and Histon, only for those games to be overshadowed somewhat by our home defeat at the hands of Hayes & Yeading.

Much has been made of the fact that I was away on international duty that day, but my commitments with Wales were made clear to one and all before I agreed to take the job here at Wrexham.

That said, the players prepared properly for the game but, having since watched the game on DVD, it was clearly a bad day at the office for all concerned.

That's not making light of the performance, but the simple fact is that those three points have now gone. That's what I stressed to the players at the start of last week and I told them that their focus now clearly had to be on the next league match at Histon.

Before then we had the opportunity to travel down and play a fund raising match with Merthyr Tydfil. In many ways it was just what we needed, because it was an ideal opportunity for the players to work on things that they didn't do particularly well the previous Saturday.

Conditions were as about as bad as they could be down at Penydarren Park, but the attitude from the players was first class and everybody demonstrated that they wanted to do well, both for themselves and the club.

It was an important stepping stone and we took a lot of positives from that into the game with Steve Fallon's side at the weekend.

Histon have a very direct method of playing which has brought them a lot of success in recent years but I felt we combated it well and had the better of the match as a whole.

I wanted a response from the players and I felt that I got just that; they battled for every single ball and the commitment from them was total.

It was an excellent defensive display which is just what we needed after effectively giving Hayes & Yeading a two-goal start last week.

There were lots of good performances and we recorded our eleventh clean sheet of the season in just 21 games. That's the same number as we had all last season, so we know we have made real progress in that department.

Now we have to start scoring at the other end because that significantly eases the pressure on the back four.

This side has shown at times just what it is capable of, as against Luton and Kettering, and those performances raise expectancy levels amongst supporters.

So I can understand why supporters react as they did against Hayes & Yeading, but the truth is that it only helps the opposition.

Sometimes expectation weighs heavily on young lads and I have tried to tell them that criticism is part of the package of being a professional footballer, but that they have to try and shut it out and concentrate simply on the game.

That said, everything was put into perspective last Friday morning when we received the devastating news that George McGowan had sadly passed away.

He was a fantastic youth coach and his loss has impacted on so many of the young players here that benefitted from working with him.

He was great character to have around the training ground and his presence will be sorely missed. I would therefore like to pass on my condolences, and those of all the players and coaching staff, to his widow Pat and the rest of the family.