08-02-19 – Preview – Kidderminster Harriers Vs Chester FC

We’ll be heading into this game between play off contenders a handful of men light at the back after three defenders left us for other clubs. Popular defender Lee Vaughan left us yesterday for the bright lights of Solihull Moors while this morning Kennedy Digie signed for fellow National North side Guiseley AFC for a small fee.

Also going was Aaron Phillips and, surprisingly, he’s not the one that the fans expected to go. In the four games he has played since joining in November he had looked comfortable on the ball and always looking for the break forward. In compensation another defender, Joel Taylor, has returned from his loan at Halesowen Town but how long he’ll be hanging around is anyones guess.

Those departures leave the Harriers even thinner on numbers and if you add in the injury list, and the suspension of Kane Richards, then we could have just thirteen known first teamers available to us.

Ed Williams is said to be making his long overdue comeback against Chester FC tomorrow but we’ll still be without James O’Connor, Liam Truslove and Billy Daniels long term while goalkeepers Brandon Hall and Tom Palmer may be on their way back soon. Josh Heaton will also miss the game after picking up a hamstring injury against Alfreton Town the other week.

A replacement for Vaughan could be youngster Harry Higginson who this week signed his first professional contract with the club and will now be with us for the next eighteen months at least.

With an extra week off – due to the calling off of the Ashton Utd game last weekend – hopefully some of the knowledge passed on by new manager Mark Yates to the squad will have some effect on them and we can all begin to see an end to our recent negative style of play and more intention to score. In recent weeks we’ve gone from scoring 5, 4, 3 goals regularly to just 1 or 0 since Christmas. We’ll never get promoted at that rate.

Our first defeat of the season came at Chester back in September when they ripped us apart and we looked clueless. The diminutive Iwan Murray did most of the damage, without scoring, and we couldn’t handle him. Thankfully he seems to be being used sparingly since signing an extended contract a few weeks ago.

The other week our former loanee George Waring joined his hometown club following the end of his loan with us. Also at the Deva Stadium is another former Harrier, Akwasi Asanti, who signed for Chester from Tamworth in November. He’s been out injured for a while but is on his way back now and is expected to play tomorrow.

Anthony Dudley is also set to feature after missing the last two games against Curzon Ashton and Spennymoor Town. They lost both of those games and that has slipped them down the table slightly to eighth place. Two above us.

Chester have two long term injuries with Gary Stopforth and Matty Hughes both out for the remainder of the season. Hughes picked up an ACL injury against Hereford FC in October while Stopforth has been out for a month less.

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Hall, Palmer, Weaver, Taylor, Horsfall, O’Connor, Penn, Johnson, McAlinden, Weeks, Stratford, Truslove, Butterfield, Higginson, Austin, Chambers, Taylor-Randle, Daniels, Ironside, Williams, Clayton-Phillips, White.

Chester FC from:

Shenton, King, Grand, Livesey, Howson, Thompson, Burton, Green, Hellawell, Jackson, McAllister, McKenna, Mahon, Noble, Roberts, Waters, Asante, Brown, Dudley, Marsh-Hughes, Mooney, Murray, Smalley, Waring. 

Referee: Mr Ryan Atkin. London

Talk about the game here

Links to Chester FC websites here

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