03-02-23. Match preview Vs Scarborough Athletic

Preview: Phil Lench

A new month and the visit of Scarborough Athletic to Aggborough tomorrow will mark the beginning of a tough month of games that will test us to the limit and also, come the end of February, will also show us if we really do have the ability to get ourselves well and truly into the race for promotion.

We finished January off with a winning run of three games against Curzon Ashton, Peterborough Sports and Blyth Spartans but they are nowhere near the calibre of the teams we’ll be facing with, in addition to Scarborough, Chorley FC , Brackley Town, Spennymoor Town and Darlington FC to come.

On Tuesday we convincingly beat Blyth 3-1 at home with a brace from Amari Morgan-Smith bringing his tally to five goals since the beginning of the year. He’ll be hoping to build on that tomorrow but it would be good to see the goals shared around more to give everyone confidence of making the next, all important, step.

We strengthened the side further yesterday with the loan signing of Kyle Morrison from AFC Fylde. A move, that to many, seems strange on Fyldes part in lending a competitor an important member of their own team. Kyle has spent time out injured for most of the season though so it could also be seen as a strange move on our part too in taking a player on that isn’t 100% fit. A little like Paddy McLaughlin was when we signed him on loan from York City before Christmas and that didn’t work out too well.

Morrison has obviously been bought in to cover at the back with both Caleb Richards and Joe Foulkes out for a while. Tom Leak has been bought back from his loan at Alfreton Town but he doesn’t really seem to be included in Russ Penns plans and will in all probability go out on loan again soon. Also missing in action are Zak Brown and Joe Leesley although Zac could be making a return very soon.

We said farewell to Ben Margetson on Tuesday when he opted to go back home to Wales and joined Pontypridd Utd. The seventeen games he played for us was the most games he’s played for a club in his career but maybe sitting on the bench wasn’t all that appealing and he should now get more game time with Ponty.

Scarborough are doing well following their promotion to here in May and sit in fifth place in the table. They beat us 4-2 up there back in November in the game that was originally meant to be played 0n September 10th but the death of HM the Queen meant that it couldn’t be played that weekend. At halftime we had a good chance to win the game but we crumbled as Kieran Burton completed his hat trick to send us home dejected.

The Seadogs are expected to be at full strength on Saturday, with the exception of Will Thornton (ankle ligament) and Dom Tear. Jake Charles should recover from an illness in time for the game giving manager Jono Greening a selection headache. Their new loan signing from Matlock Town, defender Ryan Qualter, is available along with striker Emmanuel Ilesanmi on loan from Harrogate Town.

This will be a very tough game for our fragile team. Scarborough have been the most impressive of all the promoted teams so far and are not there to be taken lightly so we’ll have to play with a little more confidence if we hope to beat them. I’m sure they know that already though.

Teams:

Harriers from:

Palmer, Dibble, Emery, Penny, Richards, Knight-Percival, Leak, McNally, Pearce, Morrison, Byrne, Brown, Lissimore, Owen-Evans, Hall, Martin, McGlynn, Freemantle, Bearne, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith.

Scarborough Athletic from:

Cracknell, Bancroft, Burton, Gooda, Weledji, Jackson, Glynn, Heslop, Watson, Maloney, Bramall, Colville, Cadman, Cogill, Wiles, Greenfield, Hutton, Coulson, Qualter, Charles, McGuckin, Ilesanmi.

Referee: Mr Niall Smith. Rugeley

Talk about the game here

Links to Scarborough Athletic websites here

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