04-04-22 – Preview – Kidderminster Harriers Vs Alfreton Town

Preview: Phil Lench

Tomorrow evenings game at home to Alfreton Town is the one that was re-arranged following the injury to Matt Preston. Injured during the first half, following an over-strong tackle from Dom Smith, the game was eventually abandoned when the full extent of his injury became clear. Matt has since had a number of operations including pins inserted to re-align his ankle and is now at home on crutches. Matt officially returned to Solihull Moors a few weeks ago and we wish Matt good luck with his ongoing recovery.

Now we have to play the match again and it’s to be hoped that Alfreton respect what has gone before and think before they go in too hard this time. 

Since the incident the Harriers have seen a slump in form. The game following we beat Boston Utd at home on the Tuesday evening but that could have been down to the lads ‘doing it for Matt’. We then went on a terrible run starting with that defeat at Farsley Celtic and that continued for the next five games with only two points from a possible eighteen. Thankfully we got to winning ways at home to Curzon Ashton with a 5-0 win then reverted back to form with a disappointing 0-0 draw at Bradford (PA) on Saturday.

Also since that abandoned game we’ve had a run of defensive injuries to Nathan Cameron, Joe Foulkes, Cliff Moyo and Geraldo Bajrami then on Saturday Alex Penny also got injured and could be out for a while. At least Cameron and Foulkes are now back and Moyo should be fit if needed. There’s been no news about Baj though and we can only presume that he won’t be back tomorrow.

We also now have an injury to new loan signing Matt Stenson who checked in with a back injury before the Bradford game having only played a few minutes for us against Curzon. In an interview with Russ Penn he first said he’d be out for the remainder of the season then a few minutes later it had changed to a game or two. Lewis Montrose was ill on Saturday so should be ok to play in this game.

Alfretons form has slumped since they were in fifth place before Christmas but the now find themselves way down in seventeenth place but they did record quite an amazing away win at Hereford FC the other day. That result went down well with more civilised population this side of the county border.

In recent weeks their manager Billy Heath has bought in a load of new faces to the club following rumours of financial and ownership problems. Those bought in are only kids though and obviously have come cheap.

The draw for us on Saturday, and AFC Fyldes’ home win, bought it home that we now have to win every game we play now to get into that holy grail third place. With Fylde not playing then this game in hand is the proverbial six points worth and will get us back to within a point of them.

Get out there and do it for Matty Preston!

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Simpson, Emery, Richards, Cameron, Foulkes, Moyo, Penny, Nolan, Bajrami, Lowe, Austin, Redmond, Lissimore, Montrose, Carrington, Martin, Freemantle, Bastable, Tolley, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith, White, Sterling-James, Stenson.

Alfreton Town from:

Willis, Smith-Eccles, Smith, Lund, Clackstone, A Jones, Sutton, J Jones, Wilde, Wiley, Preston, Dosanjh, Collins, Branson, Grice, Johnson, Hobson, Ceesay, Butterfield, Sebbeh-Njie, Oliver, Rhead, Reeves, Cowan, Southwell, Deakin, Salmon.

Referee: Mr Ruebyn Ricardo. Leicestershire

Shanes Opposition Stats Pack:

Away from home in the league: (P16, W6, D1, L8) Blyth 2-0, Darlington 2-3, Chester 3-2, Farsley Celtic 0-3, Spennymoor 0-2, Gateshead 2-1, Curzon Ashton 1-2, York 1-0, Boston 2-3, Guiseley 3-2, BPA 5-0, Gloucester 0-0, AFC Telford 2-3, AFC Fylde 3-0, Brackley 1-0.

Goals (all competitions): Hobson – 14, Rhead – 8, Branson – 7, Southwell – 6, Ceesay – 5, Allan – 3 (left club), Reeves – 2, Wilde – 1, Sutton – 1, Lund – 1, Johnson – 1, – Hackford -1 (left club), Evans – 1 (left club) .

The streaks (league only):

Games since last win: 0

Games since last away win: 0

Games since last draw: 1

Games since last away draw: 3

Games since last defeat: 2

Games since last away defeat: 1

Games since last clean sheet: 5

Games since last away clean sheet: 4

The Squad (appearances are starts + sub, includes both league and cups):

Goalkeepers: Alfie Smith-Eccles (P0), Alex Hare (P0), George Willis (P38, conceded 55, faced 3 penalties and didn’t save any of them).

Defence: Josh Askew (P2, left club), Josh Clackstone (P31), Cody Collins (P0, loan from Mansfield), Ethan Dosanjh (P0), Arun Jones (P0), James Jones (P1), Adam Lund (P31, 1 goal), Dan Preston (P23), Dom Smith (P33), Ritchie Sutton (P22, 1 goal), Josh Wilde (P27, 1 goal), Dwayne Wiley (P27).

Midfield: Connor Branson (P32, 7 goals), Milan Butterfield (P13), Luca Chadli (P0), Yusifu Ceesay (P23, 5 goals), Rob Evans (P27, 1 goal, left club), Harvey Grice (P2), Bailey Hobson (P36, 14 goals), Bobby Johnson (P23, 1 goal), Rio Molyneaux (P1), Mo Sebbeh-Njie (P0), James Oliver (P0).

Attack: George Cowan (P0), Jack Deakin (P0, loan from Mansfield), Elliott Reeves (P20, 2 goals), Matt Rhead (P34, 8 goals, missed one out of two penalties), Lewis Salmon (P0, loan from Nottm Forest), Dayle Southwell (P35, 6 goals), Nathan Tyson (P3, returned to Chesterfield).

Since the abandonment of this fixture on February 19th due to that injury to Matt Preston, Billy Heath’s side have slightly arrested the slump they were in, taking 10 points from a possible 24 but losing only twice, both on the road, to AFC Fylde 3-0 and Brackley Town 1-0.

Four of Matt Rhead’s eight goals for the season have come in that eight game run since the fixture was supposed to be played.

Talk about the game here

Links to Alfreton Town websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here