The Harriers pay their first ever visit to Salfords Moor Lane ground tomorrow and they'll be looking for the second double of the season after having already beaten them at Aggborough back in September. The score that day was 1-0 and the goal came from a wonder free kick from James McQuilkin.Ryan Croasdale (right) sadly won't be available to us tomorrow due to his serving of a one match ban following his sending off at Worcester on Boxing Day.
The Reds are at the top of the form table now with eight games unbeaten since losing at Halifax in November. That run has kept us snapping at the heels of AFC Fylde but Salford are also going through a good spell too and sit in fourth place in the current form table having gone unbeaten for seven games until losing at Harrogate in the Trophy before Christmas. They have since gone on a three game run including the double over Bradford PA in their festive games.
So it all looks set up for a tough game that we need to be on our mettle to get something from. Sadly the loss of Croasdale won't help our task but with a wealth of options available to us it'll be interesting to see who will replace him. Ashley Carter looks the obvious choice but we might go with Darryl Knights instead to give us a more attacking option. The big question is will there be a long overdue start for Sam Austin after his second half Cameo against Worcester last Sunday when he ripped their defenders to shreds and panicked Sam Oji into putting the ball into his own net for our winning goal. He'll have to start one day so how about making it this game.
The other talking point this week is the return of Alex Palmer in goal due to an injury to Sam Hornby. It's mystifying why, after such a minor injury to the on loan Burton keeper, we have bought in a season long loan to a keeper that didn't do it for us last season when Hornby could well be back tomorrow or at least the following week. My view is there are other reasons for this but then I'm so negative aren't I?
It's not known what the injury situation is at Salford but what is known is the the long overdue ground improvements have started and there will only be two sides of the ground open in a ground that only holds 1,600 maximum in the first place. It could be a bit tight in there and so could the result so I'm going for a draw.
Photo © KHFC
Teams:
Harriers from:
Hornby, T Palmer, A Palmer, J Brown, Hodgkiss, Hancocks, Lowe, Williams, Sho-Silva, Digie, Carter, Knights, Osborne, Evans, Thomas, Tunnicliffe, Clarke, Francis-Angol, Gnahoua, Truslove, Austin, A Brown, Sweeney, McQuilkin, N'Gwatala, Taylor, Dieseruvwe, Waite.
Salford City from:
Dootson, Lynch, Russell, Brough, Grand, Howson, Nottingham, O'Halloran, Priestley, Smalley, Allen, Atkinson, Barnes, Burton, Johnston, King, Walker, Hulme, Livesey, Phenix, Poole, Warburton.
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