14-04-22 – Preview – Chester FC Vs Kidderminster Harriers

Preview: Phil Lench

You can always tell when the season is drawing to its conclusion when you suddenly realise that Easter is upon you and the Harriers have two games within a short space of time. Sometimes the sun comes out too and that makes it seem all the more real that the end is within sight. 

Tomorrow we’ll all be hoping to enjoy the Spring sunshine in Chester and we may also, hopefully, be enjoying three points too. On Monday we can add to those points with another three at home to Kettering Town but more on that after this game at Chester FC.

We had the good news in the week that another member of the team has signed an extension to his contract and that Amari Morgan-Smith is now staying with us until the end of next season when hopefully he’ll sign another extension. His signing must make quite a fair number of the team signed up for another term if only I could remember who they all were.

So far, apart from AMS I’ve worked out that Ethan Freemantle, Caleb Richards, Ashley Hemmings, Keziah Martin, Sam Austin and Kai Lissimore are so far meaning we’re still waiting, afaik, to hear about the status of Luke Simpson, Alex Penny, Nathan Cameron, Omari Sterling-James and Geraldo Bajrami. They’re the ones that we really need to get tied down while those of a certain age: Keith Lowe, Lewis Montrose and Mark Carrington might want to keep their options open.

Another great performance to top that 6-0 home win against Southport last weekend could convince the ditherers that their future is better served here at Aggborough. That win last Saturday was a brilliant goalfest for those in attendance. Hemmings grabbed a brace while goal for OSJ, AMS, Freemantle and Cliff Moyo on his first game back at Aggborough since his pre-season injury topped off a great experience for all those there.

We’ll still be without Sammy Austin after he went off injured against Alfreton Town two weeks ago and also Geraldo Bajrami but he could be available for the Kettering game on Monday. Hopefully there’ll be no new injuries at three o’clock tomorrow. 

For Chester, on the team news front, Danny Livesey is out with a collarbone injury although he’s on his way back now while Kevin Roberts is also a doubt with a groin strain. Matt Williams could also make his comeback from injury in time for the game.

They were one of the pre season favourites for promotion back in July last year but they’ve failed big time to live up to that and have struggled all season. A management change around Christmas saw the former York City boss Steve Watson come in as the replacement for the recently departed Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley who joined Spennymoor Town. He’s had to mainly work with what he had but has bought in a few new faces such as Marcus Dackers on loan from Salford City and Rob Apter on loan from Blackpool.

The new recruits have worked slightly but they still find themselves in a lowly seventeenth place in the table. They’re still scoring goals and have the third best record after Gateshead and our good selves with sixty two goals but their defensive record is also comparable to that with sixty five goals conceded making them the third worst in the league.

With a defence like that they’re ripe to take advantage of but if our defenders don’t do their job then, we too, could also be taken advantage of. All being well we’ll be too good for them and will come back home with three more points tomorrow evening.

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, Stenson.

Chester FC from:

Gray, Stanway, Roberts, Grand, Livesey, Fitzpatrick, Burke, Horsfield, Williams, Weeks, Apter, Hardy, Glendon, Waring, Dudley, Stephenson, Dackers, Clarke, Simmonds, Roache.

Referee: Mr Ed Duckworth. Preston

Talk about the game here

Links to Chester FC websites here

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