20-10-23. FC Halifax Town Vs Kidderminster Harriers. Match preview

Preview: Phil Lench

The last time we met up with FC Halifax Town wasn’t so long ago and it was one of the games in our memorable run in the FA Cup that culminated in that heart wrenching defeat to Premier League club West Ham Utd in February 2022. It was back in December the previous year that Halifax came to Aggborough in the 2nd round following our 1st round win over Grimsby Town a month earlier and the same time span before we beat a very poor Reading FC side to give us all the chance to believe.

On that day in December, third placed in the National League, Halifax came to us confident that the game would be a mere formality in progressing to the next round but we had other ideas and in a first half of footballing lessons we beat them comparatively easily 2-0 with our goals provided by Amari Morgan-Smith and Ashley Hemmings.

Now that both clubs have equal footing following our promotion to their level we have to see if we can do it all again but this time at their place.

Halifax aren’t doing too badly in the league with them up there in eighth place but that placing is mainly down to their away form where they’ve won four out of their eight games but it’s a different matter at home where they have just the one from seven games. That solitary home win came on opening day with a 2-0 win against Bromley FC.

We’re still not doing so well ourselves but we have won our last three games and the confidence is slowly beginning to come back. All we need to do is get some of those injured players back on the pitch and hopefully get this often mentioned striker signing over the line. It’s been heavily rumoured to be Danny Elliott and he was seen at the Ashton Utd FA Cup game last Saturday but here we are at Friday and we’re still waiting for confirmation of either Elliott or any other striker in the frame.

Meanwhile we’ll plod on without Shane Byrne, Jack Lambert and Matt Preston but will hopefully see a return for Joe Leesley to add into the return of Nathaniel Knight-Percival and Reiss McNally last Saturday. The only bad news, also rumoured, is that Bailey Hobson has returned to his parent club Chesterfield and will not be coming back. He was the one bright spark that re-ignited our form since his arrival here and, if true, is a major blow for us. Why won’t the club keep the fans informed about such important events?

A win tomorrow could propel us up to sixteenth place in the table but we know that’s unlikely due to the other sides winning their games too. Little buggers!

I think that we could, and should, get a positive result at the Shay due to the home teams poor home form and due to our rise in self belief. Should be a good game.

Photo © KHFC

Referee: Mr Garreth Rhodes. Selby

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