18-01-19 – Preview – AFC Telford Utd Vs Kidderminster Harriers

Yet another week of turmoil within the club sees the fans dreading this visit to AFC Telford Utd tomorrow afternoon.

A terrible home defeat at the hands of Boston Utd last Saturday was bad enough. Then on Tuesday we had the first of the rats leaving the sinking ship when Dan Bradley publicly announced that he had been trying to get out of the Harriers for quite a while due the the bad situation the club finds itself in.

We, the fans, aren’t privy to what has been going on but we’ve already had Ed Wagner glad to leave the place after never being given a chance and then Neil MacFarlane resigns after taking the club as far as he could. Or was allowed to. Then we have Colin Gordon taking complete control in almost every aspect of the club including standing in front of the dugouts and saying that we don’t need a new manager just yet.

On top of all that we’ve won just two games since the beginning of December and begun to drift away from the leading pack of part time clubs.

When will it start to get better?

As mentioned we’ll be without Bradley for the game and George Waring who has also left the club following the end of his loan spell. Ryan Johnson and Kane Richards will both be missing due to their red cards with Johnson on the last instalment of his three match ban while Richards is serving his for that pathetically awarded red card against Boston from a referee that had obviously been practising double standards.

Billy Daniels and Liam Truslove are still out injured while James O’Connor and Ed Williams should be back from injury either this weekend or next. That is if Williams hasn’t walked out on us. We are supposed to be bringing in a new face sometime soon with talk of Liam McAlinden arriving on loan from Cheltenham Town. It hasn’t been confirmed by the official website yet but Colin Gordon has told the Shuttle he’s coming.

Telford have traditionally been below the Harriers in the pecking order but this season that looks to be changing. They are having a solid season so far and sit in fourth place in the table and into the next round of the FA Trophy too. That’s all down to the more realistic thinking of their board and manager to spend wisely and bring quality in that improves the team.

Some of that quality used to wear red shirts. James McQuilkin, Darryl Knights, Andre Brown, Amari Morgan-Smith and Matt Barnes-Homer are all there now helping them towards a possible promotion. They’ve also bought in a couple of decent loanees and signings this January with loanees goalkeeper Josef Bursik arriving from Stoke City, Ryan Barnett from Shrewsbury Town and Marcus Dinanga signing permanently from Hartlepool Utd.

They have also been on a five game unbeaten run since Boxing Day and will be wanting to notch up a sixth against us tomorrow. Can a club in disarray manage to stop them doing that?

Stop Press: McAlinden has now signed for an intitial one month loan while James Baxendale has gone out on loan to Nuneaton Borough.

Teams:

Harriers from:

Hall, Palmer, Phillips, Horsfall, O’Connor, Penn, Vaughan, Digie, Heaton, Taylor-Randle, McAlinden, Weeks, Stratford, Truslove, Butterfield, Higginson, J White, Austin, Chambers, Ironside, Williams, Clayton-Phillips.

AFC Telford Utd from:

Bursik, Wycherley, Barnett, Brown, Cowans, Brendon Daniels, Ellis, Dinanga, Deeney, Lilly, Knights, McQuilkin, Downing, Morgan-Smith, Morley, Royal, Streete, Sutton, Udoh, R White, Barnes-Homer.

Referee: Mr Elliott Swallow. Blackpool

Talk about the game here

Links to AFC Telford Utd websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here