14-10-22. FA Cup 4th Qual Rd. Match preview Vs AFC Fylde

Preview: Phil Lench

We couldn’t really ask for a more difficult FA Cup tie than this one, at Aggborough tomorrow, against a team that we’ve never had much joy from. That’s not saying that we’re inferior to them – apart from in a previous cup tie a while back – but that we normally match them step for step and then find that one single occurrence occurs that leaves us wondering what happened.

Keith Lowes backpass getting stuck in the mud anyone? A referees willingness to give Fylde ten minutes extra to score in the ninety sixth minute of the game anyone?

We expect to get harder games the further you go into a cup run but to, possibly, go out in the 4th qualifying to a team no one likes could be a bitter pill to swallow. It’s up to us to ensure that doesn’t happen.

So far on this run we’ve beaten both Tamworth and Cheshunt FC although neither have been easy. Tamworth was just the single goal although we made hard work of it while Cheshunt was equally as hard but the result never looked to be in doubt until we switched off completely in the second half and the hosts almost took the game to a replay. 

Last weekend the chickens came home to roost though and we turned in one of our worst performances of the season in a 2-0 home defeat to Farsley Celtic. It was another bad defeat that could be added to the early season home defeat to Curzon Ashton or the weak capitulation at Brackley Town on August Bank Holiday Monday but this was worse because Farsley were near to the  bottom of the table and had only one win to their name all season. We were also utter ****.

We still have a long injury list for this game tomorrow and that wasn’t helped with Ethan Freemantle being withdrawn from the Farsley game minutes before the start with a back injury. Amari Morgan-Smith was drafted in quickly from the bench to lead the line but he didn’t look match fit and got nowhere near goal – then again no one else did either. AMS’s replacement on the bench was another defender and not a striker. We are crying out for a quality back up goalscorer but that doesn’t appear to be high on Russ Penns agenda.

Earlier this week Brackley signed a proven goalscorer in Adam Rooney. Around two hundred and twenty five goals in over six hundred games – that’s a goal every three games – is something not to be sniffed at and you have to wonder why we didn’t make a move for him. Maybe we did though and he thought Brackley was a better option than us.

Whatever the situation tomorrow we might be lining up without a recognised fit striker on the team sheet.

As for Fylde well their first Cup game was against Farsley ending in a 1-1 draw to take them to a replay that they won 3-0 away from home. In the next round they came up against Congleton Town and again the first game was drawn 1-1 at Congleton. They put paid to their slender cup hopes emphatically in a 5-1 win in the replay at Mill Farm to give them the right to play the Harriers.

I don’t know of any team news from Fylde and frankly I don’t care. What I do know is though that they’ll most likely be better prepared for this game than we are. 

Just prove me wrong Harriers? 

Teams:

Harriers from:

Palmer, Emery, Penny, Richards, Knight-Percival, Foulkes, Pearce, Margetson, Lowe, Bastable, Leak, Lissimore, Byrne, Brown, Owen-Evans, Burgess, Rogers, Martin, Freemantle, Tolley, Bearne, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith, Ceesay.

AFC Fylde from:

Neal, Cranston, Weston, Obi, Whitmore, Rowley, Philliskirk, Cullen, Conlan, Morrison, Gregson, Barratt, Haughton, Piggott, Walker, Whitehead, Rowe, Ligendza, Hatfield, J Byrne, Davis, Patten, Bird, Holmes.

Referee: Mr William Davis. Stockport

Talk about the game here

Links to AFC Fylde websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here