18-11-22. FA Trophy 2nd round. Match preview Vs St Albans City

Preview: Phil Lench

The Harriers have a break from the league now, and all the defeats associated with it, to concentrate on getting a long overdue win at St Albans City in the FA Trophy. The run of four successive losses now have to be put to the back of the mind as they try and salve some kind of kudos that the long suffering fans can take hope from.

In the week Russ Penn made a start on that by bringing in three new loan players and sending one existing one back. In came Paddy Mclaughlin from York City, Reiss McNally from Solihull Moors and Tom Billson from Coventry City. Sadly only one of those, Billson, can play at St Albans due to their parent clubs not wanting them cup tied. Returning to York is Scott Burgess under the pretence that he’s been recalled but we have all seen why really.

Billsons arrival gives Tom Palmer the chance to get his head, and his confidence, back together following some below par showings lately. The other two look to be replacements for Nathan Lowe and Krystian Pearce respectively following the rumours of discontent in the team and with the management.

Last Saturday, at Kings Lynn Town, we came a right cropper in a 3-0 defeat that saw our defence make numerous errors and our forwards not make any effort. You have to wonder why a striker wasn’t amongst the new arrivals earlier but that might be on the cards for next week seeing as any striker bought in this week would possibly not want to be cup tied by his parent club.

Our FA Trophy journey in recent years hasn’t been one to write home about. We won on penalties at Hereford FC last season then went out at Boston Utd a few weeks later. Before that we’ve rarely made it beyond our first game each season with our lowest of the lows coming in a 3-1 home defeat to York City in 2018.

Our injury list is beginning to improve now and just Alex Penny and Nathaniel Knight-Percival remain on the list with both still some way from a return. Shane Byrne has had a full two weeks to get his back problem sorted so he could be available after he lasted a mere twenty minutes at Boston the other week.

St Albans ply their trade in the Southern version of our league and aren’t doing too badly. Sitting in sixth place they’re well placed and recently racked up a 0-6 win away at Hampton and Richmond Borough with three players getting two goals apiece, Kyran Wiltshire, Zane Banton and Tafari Moore. Surprisingly their leading scorer with twelve goals, the well known former Coventry striker Shaun Jeffers, didn’t get in on the act but he did grab three in the following two games. On Saturday last they lost at Eastbourne Borough.

They’ll be without Michael Johnson (finger), Michael Clark (shoulder), Romeo Akinola (knee), Liam Sole (ankle), and Loris Marcimain (groin).

Kick off at the corporately named ‘The Mozzarella Fellas Stadium at Clarence Park’ will be at 3pm and the result will be decided on the day.

Stop the press. I want to get off: Joe Leesley comes in from Boston Utd, via Darlington.

Photo © CCFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Billson, Palmer, Emery, Penny, Richards, Starbuck, Knight-Percival, Foulkes, McNally, Pearce, Margetson, Lowe, Leak, Byrne, Leesley, Brown, Owen-Evans, McLaughlin, Rogers, Martin, Freemantle, Bearne, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith, Ceesay.

St Albans City from:

Johnson, Berry, Marcimain, Stanley, Townsend-West, Adebiyi, Clark, Mukena, Moore, Di Trolio, Wiltshire, Isaac, Sole, Noble, Dawson, Sundire, Paul, Smith, Akinola, Jeffers, Banton, Weiss, Morrall, Neal. 

Referee: Mr Richie Watkins. Nuneaton

Talk about the game here

Links to St Albans City websites here

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