13-05-23. Match preview Vs Brackley Town. Play off final

Preview: Phil Lench

They don’t get much bigger than this do they?

Tomorrow we will hopefully get our just rewards for this topsy turvy season by beating Brackley Town in the National North play off final. Whoever would have thought we’d be at this stage a few months ago with a team failing to perform week in week out and the fans calling for the head of our management duo, Russ Penn and Jimmy O’Connor.

Now, if we win tomorrow, they’ll be carried aloft through the ticker tape strewn streets of Kidderminster in celebration of our return to the top tier of non league football. A tier that Colin Gordon dropped us out of seven years ago saying it was only a temporary thing. How wrong was that idiot?

Last Saturday, at Kings Lynn Town, the lads turned in the performance of the season to get us to this stage by beating the second placed team – with a twenty four point difference – in a game that by the end had the home side reeling in defeat. The 1-4 scoreline came as a shock to many at our level but with the team on song it was fully deserved.

A few hours later Brackley were also upsetting the form book by beating much fancied Chester FC up in Cheshire: defender George Carline scoring the only goal midway through the second half of the game. Watching the replay of the goal the ball did trickle goalwards somewhat catching out the keeper who let it roll in at the foot of the post. All goals count though and this one put Brackley into the play offs for the third year running and their reward for finishing in the top seven in all the time that we’ve been down here.

Again we should probably play with an unchanged side once more and, now that they’re used to each other, the results show that we can play like a well oiled machine with Shane Byrne and Joe Leesley at the core of our smooth running engine. Not to decry the efforts of the other team members though with the defence playing their part along with the front runners. It’s a team effort that has come good at just the right time.

Brackley will also be going into the game with a fully fit side. The only one not playing will be Gareth Dean but he’ll be on the touchline managing anyway. It was a few weeks ago, with the sacking of Roger Johnson, that he became their third manager of the season when he took on temporary responsibility for the team.

His short tenure has seen them draw some, win some and lose some but nothing that would really stand out. It’s only down to their previous form under Johnson that they managed to stay in the play off places so that should give us the tag of ‘form team’ but at this stage form goes out the window.

There’s been a lot of understandable discussion about the ticketing arrangements for this game with the Harriers only given 700 tickets. That has meant some non-season ticket holding supporters have had to miss out as have some STH’s who came too late to the party. Brackley have reduced the capacity, on police advice, to 3000 leaving them to find 2,300 fans somewhere in the woodwork.

Last season they gave York City the same amount of tickets for their semi final game and just 940 home fans turned up. They say that our game is now sold out but where are the other 1360 Brackley fans going to come from? I think we might, annoyingly, be seeing a few empty spaces on the home terraces tomorrow.

Whatever happens though it has to happen on the pitch. It’s down to us to roar the Harriers on to a well earned victory and the ultimate prize of a long overdue return to the National League. 

Be loud, be proud and support the team whatever happens.

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Palmer, Dibble, Penny, C Richards, Morrison, Knight-Percival, Foulkes, Leak, McNally, Pearce, Byrne, Leesley, Brown, Lissimore, Owen-Evans, Hall, Martin, Tolley, Bearne, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith.

Brackley Town from:

Lewis, Worby, Calder, Flanagan, Carline, Cullinane-Liburd, Preston, Jones, Armson, Matwasa, J Richards, Woods, Bates, Murombedzi, Smart, York, Massey, Putz, Walker, Yusuf, Amantchi, Stead, Yussuf, Robinson, Rooney.

Referee: Mr John Mulligan. Carlisle

Talk about the game here

Links to Brackley Town websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here