The Harriers pay their first ever visit to Harrogate Town tomorrow evening in the hope that Saturdays defeat at home was just a minor aberration in our campaign to move up into a higher division. We'll have to do it by learning quickly that to win games then you need to score goals and to score goals you need to hit the ball - on target.Against FC Utd of Manchester we had twenty three shots on goal and only six of those hit the target. Of those six on target possibly none of them travelled at more than two mph yet FCUM had just five on target and scored from two of them. It's not as if we can't score goals because up until Saturday we had scored twenty goals in seven games.
Harrogate themselves are on a good run and only fell to defeat at AFC Fylde on Saturday after they went into a 1-0 lead on the stroke of halftime but Fylde scored twice in the space of five second half minutes to win all the points. The reason why they're sitting above us in the table is because of their superb home form with them not suffering a home league defeat since March and taking seventeen points from a possible twenty one at The CNG this season.
In our favour they do have a bit of an injury crisis. Former Harriers Lloyd Kerry and Dominic Knowles are both out injured and their manager Simon Weaver, also a former Red, could also be without Warren Burrell, Jack Emmett and John Paul Pittman too but will have Simon Ainge back after serving a suspension for a red card in their home defeat in the FA Cup against Halifax Town two weeks ago. So they're not invincible at home then?
We'll still be without Jared Hodgkiss (hernia) and Elton N'Gwatala (shoulder) but as far as we know we didn't have any injuries against FCUM. Liam Truslove (right) came in to cover for Elton but struggled to make his mark after previous games when he had come off the bench to score so there could be a start for Andre Brown instead with Truslove returning to the bench for later in the game.
This is the first game in a run of three league games where we have away games against sides that are near the top or climbing the table quickly. If we can get past the first hurdle of Harrogate then we''ll be better equipped for the trips to Halifax and Stockport. Slot in a tough FA Cup tie at Blackpool then it's going to be a crucial month for the Harriers.
Photo © KHFC
Teams:
Harriers from:
Hornby, T Palmer, Lowe, Williams, Carter, Thomas, Tunnicliffe, Clarke, Evans, Francis-Angol, Croasdale, Stambolziev, Gnahoua, Truslove, Austin, A Brown, McQuilkin, Dieseruvwe, Waite.
Harrogate Town from:
Crook, Ellis, Ainge, Shiels, Parker, Turner, Thirlwell, Thanoj, Platt, Burrell, Kerry, Colbeck, Leesley, Brooksby, Gascoigne, Emmett, Pittman, Knowles, Chilaka, Robertson, Day, Webb-Foster, Stewart.
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