14-03-22 – Preview – Spennymoor Town Vs Kidderminster Harriers

Preview: Phil Lench

Following that third defeat in a row against AFC Fylde on Saturday the Harriers really do have to grab themselves by the balls and stop this rot tomorrow evening at Spennymoor Town.

Two away defeats at Farsley Celtic and Gateshead can be seen as mere blips on our promotion journey, especially at the league leaders, but to lose at home against a club below us in the table and going through a poor patch themselves should never have happened. To go through the game with hardly a shot on goal – for the third game in a row –  was totally unforgiveable.

On reflection it could also have been seen as unforgiveable to hand a debut to a defender that hadn’t kicked a ball in anger for eighteen months to but maybe Russ Penns hands were tied with the injury to Nathan Cameron. Then again there are other defenders within the squad that could have started the game and then bring on the hapless Ryan Nolan later on if things were going well.

Now we have to get back to basics – again I hear you say? – and basically go up to Durham with just one thing in mind. To keep a clean sheet and, ironically, forget scoring. Just stop this slide by instilling the confidence back into this confidence drained team.

It’s likely that Cameron will still be missing so it makes sense to bring in Keith Lowe as his replacement rather than starting with Nolan and, instead, give him time to gather his thoughts on the bench for a while.

Alex Penny also seems to be carrying an injury as shown in his below standard display against Fylde so Joe Foulkes could start instead. Just a thought.

Spennymoor are just beginning to emerge from their poor run of form at the wrong time for us. Three wins in a row for the Moors have come at home to Kettering Town on Saturday and away at Chorley FC and Farsley preceding that. They’ll be wanting to force themselves into the play-offs once again after spending the early part of the season in them. 

Glen Taylor remains, as always, their biggest threat in front of goal so the defensive option for us would make even more sense in that respect. Their new managers, the infamous Deadly Duo, Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson are obviously doing better with them that they ever did a Chester FC. Even more so by going back there within a few weeks of their appointment and winning.

With another big game coming up next Saturday at second placed Brackley Town then this game tomorrow should be seen as the ideal game to stop the rot. Lose this then even our third place finish would become evermore precarious.

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

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

Spennymoor Town from:

Dale, Amissah, Curtis, Pye, Tait, Mason, Richardson, Anderson, Chandler, Hall, Ramshaw, Spokes, Oyibo, Ofosu, Taylor, Thewlis, Preston, 

Referee: Mr James Bancroft. Durham

Talk about the game here

Links to Spennymoor Town websites here

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