Match previews 2023-24
Date: 20-04-24 Match preview Vs Barnet FC Venue: The Hive Stadium Kick off: 12:15hrs Preview:Phil Lench It was a short but, sadly, not so sweet stay in the National League when our time came to an end at home to Eastleigh FC last Saturday. In another must win game we failed miserably to score again and that has to be our biggest downfall in our time here. It took another wonder goal from Paul McCallum to show our poor strikers how it should be done. Tomorrow we end the season away at second placed Barnet FC in a nothing game for us but an important one for the hosts who need just one point to confirm their final position. To
Venue: Aggborough Date: 13-04-24 Harriers 0 Eastleigh FC 1 Att: 3189 (away fans: 157) A valiant effort but we’re back down to the armpit of non-league football Report: Phil Lench We’ve all lived in hope that we’ll avoid the dreaded relegation since the arrival of Phil Brown back in January but that hope ended today with this defeat at home, once again, to Eastleigh FC. Just the one chance for them was enough and it’s no shame that it was scored by the best striker in non-league football, Paul McCallum. If only we had a striker like him we could still be here to fight another day but instead we have strikers that have failed continually in finding the back
Date: 06-04-24 Match preview Vs FC Halifax Town Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 17:30hrs Preview:Phil Lench Last Friday it was all despondency wherever you looked when the Harriers lost 3-1 at home to Altrincham and relegation was assumed to be inevitable but move on a couple of days and you’d have thought we were heading for the play-offs following our amazing win by the same scoreline at champions Chesterfield FC. It was the worst of games, it was the best of games. (© Charles Dickens, almost) Now we face FC Halifax Town tomorrow evening in a game, at Aggborough, that has ‘must win’ all over it but didn’t we say the same about the Altrincham game? It has to be hoped
Date: 01-04-24 Match preview Vs Chesterfield FC Venue: SMH Group Stadium Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview:Harry211 Harriers’ condemnation on Good Friday was fitting for the time of year. Rather than being put on a cross, they were put to the sword by a slick Altrincham team to kick off the bank holiday weekend, as the playoff chasers ran out 3-1 winners. However as any students of the bible story know after Good Friday was the most unlikely of resurrections and Phil Brown will hope the pattern will be repeated for tomorrow’s game against champions Chesterfield. Scholars too will recall with heady optimism that following the resurrection was the ascension. Leaden heavy Easter metaphors aside, the game against the Spirites is one
Date: 29-03-24 Match preview Vs Altrincham Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview:Phil Lench The Harriers have reached the final few weeks of the season and the countdown to the Last Chance Saloon begins at the start of Easter tomorrow with an important home game against Altrincham. With the Reds still stuck in the relegation zone, even after only losing twice in thirteen games, we must simply win our three remaining home games and hope for the best in the two away games left. On paper the three games at home against Alty, FC Halifax Town and Eastleigh FC are all winnable so we have to make sure that is what we do. Away from home it’s a different matter with
Date: 23-03-24 Match preview Vs Wealdstone FC Venue: Grosvenor Vale Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench It’s the Harriers chance to gain their one remaining double of the season when they journey back down to London for the second weekend running tomorrow. We beat Wealdstone FC 1-0 at Aggborough back in October with an Amari Morgan-Smith goal in the dying seconds of the game so to win tomorrow would be our one and only chance of this rare, for us, feat. We were all getting ready to settle for a nil nil at Aggborough when a Sam Robinson free kick was targeted into a packed goal mouth for AMS to bundle home and hand us the three points in our
Date: 16-03-24 Match preview Vs Bromley FC Venue: Hayes Lane Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The team and their fans should be looking forwards to this game against Bromley FC because we all know that the Harriers play better, and win, against the better sides in this league than we do against those struggling down at the bottom with us. Oldham Athletic and Solihull Moors have both been beaten away from home in recent weeks while we’ve struggled against Woking, AFC Fylde and York City in that same period. On Tuesday evening we entertained Fylde an managed a draw after going down to yet another sucker punch in allowing them to take a first half lead after our defenders
Date: 12-03-24 Match preview Vs AFC Fylde Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench In recent weeks the Harriers have gone away to a number of higher placed teams and come away with the points. Those wins against the likes of Hartlepool Utd, Oldham Athletic and Solihull Moors have upset the form book and also given the Harriers fans the belief that Phil Brown can actually perform a miracle and get us out of this mess. Then we do exactly the opposite and find ourselves playing fellow teams also trying to avoid relegation and turn in a poor performance to draw a game that we’d now be expected to win or even lose after being the better team at
Date: 09-03-24 Match preview Vs York City Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers will have to pick themselves up and regroup for this game at home to York City tomorrow following that disappointing defeat at Woking FC on Tuesday evening. We’d taken the lead with a well taken Jack Lambert goal early doors and continued the remainder of the first half in the dominant position but after the break it all went tits up as our makeshift defence fell apart and allowed the hosts back in to score twice and pocket the points. Both goals were very poor to concede from our point of view with the first a calamitous mistake from Christian Dibble to allow
Date: 05-03-24 Match preview Vs Woking FC Venue: Kingfield Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers are on the road again when they travel down to leafy Surrey tomorrow for a relegation battle against Woking FC. With both clubs battling to get away from the dead men it looks like it’s going to be an important game for both sides. We go there on the back of two amazing away wins and as the form team we have to be favourites. Woking have dropped like a stone in recent weeks from mid table down to third from bottom before their unexpected home win against Gateshead on Tuesday evening. 2-1 down at the break they came back late on to
Date: 27-02-24 Match preview Vs Solihull Moors Venue: Damson Park Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers will be making a second attempt to play Solihull Moors tomorrow evening after the original date for the game was a wash out due to the torrential rain that had been coming down all day. In a way it was a good thing for the hundreds of Harriers fans about to set out because the away fan facilities are non-existent and next to useless. There is cover behind the goal but if you want to sit down and stay dry then forget it. The seats are open to the elements. We just have to hope that it doesn’t rain then although it
Date: 24-02-24 Match preview Vs Oldham Athletic Venue: Boundary Park Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers will be taking a big following to Oldham Athletic tomorrow to honour the exploits of their sea faring chairman Frank Rothwell. The seventy three year old has just returned from a 3,000 mile solo crossing of the Atlantic and, in the attempt, raising over £300,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK. I can’t even walk thirty yards up the street without getting knackered and I’m only three years younger. The game itself is a sell out and the reason we’re taking so many, apart from the occasion, is due to the ticket pricing of £1 each. Thankfully most Harriers fans have paid more once
Date: 20-02-24 Match preview Vs Gateshead Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers face a tough home game tomorrow evening when Gateshead rock up at Aggborough. The Heed have been doing well all season and sit in eighth place in the table at the moment following a good 4-2 away win at Wealdstone FC on Saturday. In previous games against them we’ve come off the worse for wear following the footballing lessons given to us by them as we collapsed to their passing game that ran rings around us. No doubt Phil Brown has looked at the videos of those last two games and will act accordingly. On Saturday we turned in a poor performance as we
Date: 17-02-24 Match preview Vs Dorking Wanderers Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers are facing a big ask tomorrow when we welcome Dorking Wanderers to Aggborough for the first time. We’ve already played them twice before down in Surrey in the FA Trophy where we lost 3-2 and then earlier in this season we won 1-0 through a Bailey Hobson goal that kicked off a rare, back then, run of three wins but didn’t take us any higher in the table than twenty third. Last Saturday, also in the Trophy, we came a cropper at Peterborough Sports when the former Harriers legend Michael Gash put his side through into the next round with a well taken
Date: 13-02-24 Match preview Vs Solihull Moors Venue: Damson Park Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench There should be a very different look to the side that turns out at Solihull Moors tomorrow evening from the one that made an exit from the FA Trophy at Peterborough Sports on Saturday. At Sports the only regular first teamers to start were Alex Penny, Zak Brown and Caleb Richards. The likes of Sam Bellis and Gold Omotayo have been injured or on the bench along with Kai Lissimore, Krystian Pearce and Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain in recent weeks. We should see the full first team at Damson Park along with our new signing Regan Griffiths who signed for us earlier today. Solihull are going
FA Trophy 5th round Date: 10-02-24 Match preview Vs Peterborough Sports Venue: Lincoln Road Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers are taking a break from winning league games to carry on winning FA Trophy games tomorrow when we make a return to Peterborough Sports for this fifth round tie that could put us into the last eight for the first time since 2010 when we lost out in the semi-finals to our old foes Stevenage Borough. Note that back then there was no fifth round in the Trophy and that was added in 2021 to allow more clubs to enter at the early stages. It was only last season that we met up with Sports for the first
Date: 02-02-24 Match preview Vs Oxford City Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Harry Taylor Kidderminster Harriers will attempt to claw their way out of the National League relegation places against survival rivals Oxford City tomorrow. Harriers will make it four wins in as many games if they manage to beat the Hoops, who are bottom of the table with only two points separating the two teams, as Harriers are now only a point from safety. On-loan striker Sam Bellis could feature for Phil Brown’s side, after he missed the 1-0 win against Dagenham and Redbridge. Brown said that Sammy Robinson, who is still injured, remains unavailable but the speed of his recovery means he is unlikely to be out
Date: 27-01-24 Match preview Vs Dagenham & Redbridge FC Venue: Victoria Road Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench Happy days are here again and we’re now looking forwards to every game we play. Gone is the boring, cautious football and in is the pressing football of Phil Brown that’s getting us fans onto the edge of our seats. At long last. Tuesday evening and it was three points off a shell shocked Hartlepool Utd who thought they only had to turn up against a quote: “Beaten at home by an appalling team” and collect the free points we were about to hand over to them. Sorry Monkey Hanger but your team was clueless and didn’t know how to handle our
Date: 23-01-24 Match preview Vs Hartlepool Utd Venue: Victoria Park Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench If you’re still to come down off the ceiling then this is a quick reminder that we have another game tomorrow evening and hopefully you might find yourself back up there again by the ninetieth minute. On Saturday we turned in what was possibly the performance of the season in beating Aldershot Town 4-2 and tomorrow we might even do the same up at Hartlepool Utd. A brace from Ashley Hemmings in the first half and then in the second half two more were added by Amari Morgan-Smith and Gold Omotayo to seal the points in our first home win in the league since
Date: 20-01-24 Match preview Vs Aldershot Town Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench It’s the first game of the new Phil Brown era against Aldershot Town tomorrow and he’s now been joined by Neil McDonald as his assistant. Brown was watching the game against Altrincham last Saturday and has now had a week to run the rule over his new charges. He may have liked what he saw but he also may not have liked some of them and to fuel that in comes Sam Bellis on loan from Barrow AFC, one of Browns former clubs. The young striker will be here up until the end of the season according to our official website. Our only real doubt
FA Trophy 4th round Date: 13-01-24 Match preview Vs Altrincham Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench They say that a week is a long time in football and how right they are (whoever they are, are). This time last week we were getting ready to go up to Rochdale AFC and the manager, Russ Penn, was hoping that at last it was all beginning to improve and we could, should, come back with all three points. Instead we lost, Russ got sacked, AFC Fylde won again in midweek to further the gaps at the bottom of the table and we suddenly got a new manager. That new man at the helm is Phil Brown, the former Hull City,
Date: 06-01-24 Match preview Vs Rochdale AFC Venue: Spotland Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench With the arrival of midfielder Owen Hesketh on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday, and the lack of news on the management front, it looks likely that we’ll not be seeing any changes in that department just yet. With that being the case then we’ll be going to Rochdale AFC as if nothing has happened in recent weeks. Weeks that we’ve collected just one point from a possible twelve and now looking odds on for a return to the National North. The sad thing is that we could have got a more positive result in all four games but it didn’t pan out that way. Is
Date: 30-12-23 Match preview Vs Boreham Wood Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench It’s all getting very close to ‘decision day’ at the Harriers with the threat of a management change now very much on the horizon if we fail to beat Boreham Wood tomorrow. A draw could probably be seen as a lifeline for Russ Penn but a defeat will mean that by this time next week we may see Richard Lane putting an advert in the Kidderminster Shuttle. On Boxing Day we turned in yet another lacklustre performance in getting a point but it could have been all three if only we had actually gone for it. Cautious as ever though and it wasn’t until the
Date: 26-12-23 Match preview Vs Boreham Wood Venue: Meadow Park Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers are off on their first long distance Christmas derby tomorrow when, instead of the nice little trip to Hereford FC or AFC Telford Utd, we’re off to sample the delights of the M25 for the game at Boreham Wood. You’d have thought with Solihull Moors and Oxford City a little closer to us that the National League would have seen sense and we’d be going to one of those instead but the NL don’t seem to be able to put two and two together. At least during that 130 mile trip the team will have time to reflect on yesterdays performance that
Date: 23-12-23 Match preview Vs Southend Utd Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers will be getting Christmas underway with a first visit since 2005 for former League club Southend Utd. A team we played ten times during our short spell there from the turn of the Millennium. We would have been hoping for some Christmas cheer after a short unbeaten run should have been continued at Maidenhead Utd last weekend but a poor and un-inspiring performance saw us fail to threaten an equally poor Magpies for almost the whole game. Where had the upbeat football from the previous three games gone? It had gone in negative tactics from an over cautious manager who thought the fans
Date: 16-12-23 Match preview Vs Maidenhead Utd Venue: York Road Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers will be paying their first ever visit to Maidenhead Utd tomorrow in an invigorated search for three more points to add to the three points gained at home to Ebbsfleet Utd two weeks ago. That first win in ages was bolstered by progression in the FA Trophy at the expense of neighbours Stourbridge FC, also at Aggborough, last Saturday. In both games Ashley Hemmings has found the net and, including the recent draw at Oxford City, he has now found the back of the net six times. Saturdays was special though because it was also Ash’s first ever hat trick in Harriers
FA Trophy 3rd round Date: 09-12-23 Match preview Vs Stourbridge FC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers get their FA Trophy campaign underway tomorrow, against Stourbridge FC, with a new, long overdue, striker in the ranks. Earlier today the former Kings Lynn Town and AFC Fylde striker Gold Omotayo signed for an undisclosed fee after only joining Fylde on a free transfer in the summer. Evidently things may be going pear shaped at Fylde with attacking midfielder Alex Whitmore also having left them for Solihull Moors for a fee a week ago. Is the Pet Shop Boy (David Haythornthwaite) running out of money? We might get to see the first of our long term injured back
Date: 02-12-23 Match preview Vs Ebbsfleet Utd Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Harry211 It’s a case of another week, another relegation six pointer for Kidderminster Harriers as they host Ebbsfleet United tomorrow. The game follows the home side’s draw away against Oxford City last week, where they valiantly came back from 2-0 down to end all square – but Russ Penn and all at the Harriers will be regretting not going the extra mile to get a much-deserved winner. As Oxford’s keeper Jack Bycroft admitted to Kidderminster’s travelling support, they were “getting hammered” but clung on to deny the away side three points. That resurgent performance was a world away from Harriers’ early season visit to Ebbsfleet, where they
Date: 25-11-23 Match preview Vs Oxford City Venue: Marsh Lane Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench After our first point gained in a month at home to Hartlepool Utd on Tuesday – the previous point was a month ago in Altrincham – the Harriers will now be making the short trip down to the City of Dreaming Spires tomorrow to take on an in-consistent Oxford City. They have been improving in recent weeks with two wins in a row against Woking FC and Ebbsfleet Utd but came crashing back down on Tuesday following an away defeat at York City. Those two wins took them momentarily out of the relegation zone but they then sloppied back into it following York. Watching
Date: 21-11-23 Match preview Vs Hartlepool Utd Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: JBrook123 Harriers welcome Hartlepool United to Aggborough in search of their fourth win of the season this evening. Hartlepool have kept one clean sheet all season, against Dagenham & Redbridge, which for anyone in attendance for Saturdays home game to the Daggers, will not come as a surprise. Concerning given the lack of threat from the Harriers on the away teams goal at the weekend. Based on form this season, having seen Hartlepool score in every away game this season, at least two goals from the home team will be required to win. Is this even possible?! There is growing unrest within the fan base, so a
Date: 18-11-23 Match preview Vs Dagenham & Redbridge FC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench It looks like we’ll be looking forwards to more hoofing the ball up to an out wide centre forward tomorrow who then has to try and lay the ball off into the area to someone else that isn’t a striker and hoping that he’ll have actually got there to receive the ball in the first place. Or we might find that same centre forward stood on the halfway line as the ball goes over his head and he then has to get his ageing legs working to chase the ball and hopefully score. Yes, you’ve guessed right, we’re still waiting for the long
Date: 11-11-23 Match preview Vs Aldershot Town Venue: Recreation Ground Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers travel to the team that put seven goals past League Two side Swindon Town in the FA Cup last weekend and so creating a new record of a current non league team scoring the most goals against a current league club. That team was Aldershot Town and we can only hope that rush of blood to the head has now passed and they’ll be happy with a single goal against us but giving us two in return. We’ll have at least one new signing going down to Hampshire tomorrow following the arrival of Ben Tollitt on loan from Oldham Athletic on Tuesday.
Date: 05-11-23 Match preview Vs Fleetwood Town Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 14:00hrs FA Cup 1st round Preview: Phil Lench It’s FA Cup day tomorrow, Sunday, and we’ll be welcoming some old foes to Aggborough when the Cod Army sails into town. Their team Fleetwood Town will be there too and ready to renew an acquaintance that included a certain Leicester City and England striker in our last meeting back in 2011. Thankfully Jamie Vardy never scored against us but he did get sent off in the game on the 20th September 2011 It was that season that they gained promotion into the Football League and have done well for themselves really. They eventually climbed into League One and in
Date: 28-10-23 Match preview Vs Chesterfield Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench In what has to be our biggest game of the season Chesterfield arrive at Aggborough on Saturday for the first time since our maiden season in the Football League twenty three years ago. We only met them in the league for that one season and they finished up in third place, and promotion, while we stayed safe in sixteenth place. The Spiretites were in illustrious company in that promotion season with Brighton & Hove Albion and Cardiff City also gaining promotion. Here’s the table from our historic season: 2000-01 season final table Following that promotion they eventually reached League 1 but lost out in the play-offs
Date: 24-10-23 Match preview Vs Altrincham Venue: Moss Lane Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers head to the other side of the Pennines from FC Halifax Town tomorrow evening to Manchester to take on Altrincham. Altrincham fans, like their counterparts from Stockport County and Salford City will no doubt tell you that they’re not in Manchester but they are really. Back over in Halifax on Saturday we lost 2-1 but only God knows how that came about after we had eleven chances to score but accepted only one whilst they had just three and buried two of them. If Russ Penn need any further convincing that we’re in need of another striker then that game must have bought
Date: 21-10-23 Match preview Vs FC Halifax Town Venue: Shay Stadium Kick off: 15:00hrs 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
FA Cup 4th qualifying round Date: 14-10-23 Match preview Vs Ashton Utd Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers commence their FA Cup campaign for the 2023-24 season tomorrow at home to Northern Premier League side Ashton Utd. We last came up against the other Ashton under Lyme club back in 2019 when they were in the National North division. We only played them twice at that time but have also come up against them twice before in the Staffordshire Senior Cup which is a bit strange considering Ashton (in Manchester) is thirty three miles from the Staffordshire county border. Mind you the Harriers used to play in the Welsh Cup back in the day. Ashton come
Date: 07-10-23 Match preview Vs Wealdstone FC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench We now have a base to build on following our first win in months at Dorking Wanderers on Tuesday evening. A stunning move from Joe Leesley and Bailey Hobson earned us the only goal of the game and gave us the belief that we can get out of the mess we find ourselves in at the foot of the table so early in the season. That building continues at Aggborough tomorrow when we welcome Wealdstone FC back to Aggborough for the first time since our Vauxhall Conference days back in 1988 some thirty five years ago. It was in that season that the Stones won
Date: 03-10-23 Match preview Vs Dorking Wanderers Venue: Meadowbank Stadium Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers journey back down to the venue of one of the less memorable games we’ve played in recent years. Tomorrow evening we return to Dorking Wanderers where we lost 3-2 in the FA Trophy last January and came away thinking at least we wouldn’t be playing them again any day soon. Of course we only went and got promoted last season meaning the day we thought wouldn’t come again did so nine months later. In that game we went there thinking it would be an easy way of progressing to the 5th round but found out that Dorking possessed some damned good strikers
Date: 30-09-23 Match preview Vs Barnet FC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers go into this game against Barnet FC with a load of injuries to cope with. Most of them are defensive with Reiss McNally, Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Matt Preston and possibly Alex Penny all out or doubtful. The middle two – NKP and Preston – are both out for a while with NKP out with a slight groin injury while Matt’s groin injury that he got in the second game of the season is slowly getting better and he’s about to start training now. McNally and Penny are the ones we don’t know much about with Reiss suddenly not appearing and Alex being treated on
Date: 26-09-23 Match preview Vs Oldham Athletic Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench Will we be facing more of the same at Aggborough tomorrow evening for this big game against Oldham Athletic or will Russ Penn actually bite the bullet that’s been aimed at his head since the start of the season. Will he rip up the non working gameplan of five at the back with wing backs and go instead with a back four and two true wingers. Have we actually got the squad for that? On Saturday at Eastleigh FC we, for once, started slightly better than in recent weeks and went into the lead with something of a dubious penalty – scored by Gerry McDonagh.
Date: 23-09-23 Match preview Vs Eastleigh FC Venue: Silverlake Stadium Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench After that fiasco at Gateshead on Tuesday evening it’s now off to the other end of the country to go face to face with Eastleigh FC. We all know what happened on Tyneside the other night and we don’t want to go over it all again apart from hoping that the team and management have looked at the incriminating video and taken on board the thoughts of the deeply disappointed fanbase. If that game proved anything it’s that we are totally useless in both attack and in defence after failing again to get a single shot on goal and also failing to even attempt
Date: 19-09-23 Match preview Vs Gateshead Venue: International Stadium Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers return to the scene of one of our worst defeats in years when they travel up to Gateshead tomorrow evening. It was two seasons ago that we went there in high hopes of improving on a third place position to stake a claim in that seasons National North play-off places. We lost 4-0 after being given a lesson and ended the season a place lower and, ultimately, defeat to Boston Utd while Gateshead got promoted as champions. Now we have a chance to avenge that defeat but it’s going to be hard, or impossible, without anyone capable of hitting the back of the
Date: 16-09-23 Match preview Vs Solihull Moors Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 17:30hrs Preview: Phil Lench You would have thought that two teams so close to each other would have met up before but, no, this will be the first time that we’ve ever played Solihull Moors in anger. We’ve played their two components: Moor Green and Solihull Borough, many a time but since they merged in 2007 to form this iteration we have only played them in a friendly back in 2018 when we beat them 3-0 at Damson Park. Now we finally come together as members of the National League and hopefully we’ll come out on top again. We’ll have to wait a bit longer for that though due
Date: 09-09-23 Match preview Vs Rochdale AFC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers come up against another former Football League opponent tomorrow afternoon when Rochdale AFC arrive at Aggborough hoping to continue their strong start to the season that has seen them win three, lose three and draw just the one game. Last Saturday didn’t work out too well for them though after they lost in another derby game (one of many) at FC Halifax Town. At the same time we were losing at Southend Utd but only just. An early second half goal for the Shrimpers was replied to soon after by Amari Morgan-Smith only for us to end up losing in the third minute
Date: 02-09-23 Match preview Vs Southend Utd Venue: Roots Hall Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The Harriers are staying in the South of the country once again for this trip to the precariously balanced Southend Utd. Having played Ebbsfleet Utd at the bottom of London last Saturday we now go to the top of the capital and a bit further East to meet up once more with an old friend from our time in the Football League. Last weeks trip to Ebbsfleet didn’t have the best outcome for us when we were totally outplayed and out fought by a team playing, at the same level as us, in the National South last season. It was hoped that the result
Date: 28-08-23 Match preview Vs Maidenhead Utd Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench It’s a quick turnaround for the Harriers with a game yesterday and then another one tomorrow. Hopefully they won’t have had too much time to dwell on how bad it was at Ebbsfleet Utd for both the team and for the fans with it, quite possibly, being our worst performance since last Spring before our great upturn in fortunes that saw us get promoted. One can only hope that yesterdays game will become a similar catalyst for us. We started the game positively even though the Kent Online newspaper summed it up very well: Kidderminster had enjoyed most of the early action although they seemed
Date: 26-08-23 Match preview Vs Ebbsfleet Utd Venue: Stonebridge Road Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench We’ll definitely be without Shane Byrne for the first of these August Bank Holiday double headers when we go down to Ebbsfleet to play Utd. On Monday their near neighbours, Maidenhead Utd, come up to Aggborough for our first ever meeting with them. We’ve met up with Ebbsfleet many times though in this incarnation and also their previous life as Gravesend & Northfleet. I prefer Ebbsfleet because it’s less of a mouthful. In fact I’m writing this piece right now from their neck of the woods because me and her are spending time in Canterbury and will be calling in to the game on
Date: 19-08-23 Match preview Vs Bromley FC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench The defeat at AFC Fylde on Tuesday evening makes it a full house for the Harriers now with one draw, one win and now one loss. We looked comfortable at Fylde until the final ten minutes when we collapsed and let a goal in, then deservedly equalised through a Kieran Phillips goal a few minutes later but then collapsed further by letting Fylde grab a winner just two minutes after our goal. Up until then we’d looked solid, if not very spectacular, and should have come away with the draw at least. We now have the chance to add another win to the list when
Date: 15-08-23 Match preview Vs AFC Fylde Venue: Mill Farm Kick off: 19:45hrs Preview: Phil Lench If you thought our promotion would see the back of some teams that we hated playing then you’d be wrong because we still have to play AFC Fylde and that happens tomorrow evening. Long famous for being a team that we just couldn’t beat that all came to an end last season with a FA Trophy win and then a long overdue league win with both coming at their Mill Farm ground. The win in the league was our third in that nine game winning run that sent us up while both goals came from Amari Morgan-Smith. AMS is our leading scorer this season
Date: 12-08-23 Match preview Vs York City Venue: LNER Community Stadium Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench We’ll be travelling up to York tomorrow without our captain Shane Byrne following the knee injury he picked up in a goal line collision with goalkeeper Christian Dibble last Saturday. The news is that it’s been confirmed that he has a LCL injury along with a couple of small bone fractures in his knee and that has put a bit of a dampener on our brilliant opening draw at home to highly fancied Woking FC. Shane could be out until Christmas but hopefully he can make a return a little sooner than that. Meanwhile the talk is of who could replace him without
Date: 05-08-23 Match preview Vs Woking FC Venue: Aggborough Kick off: 15:00hrs Preview: Phil Lench Just twelve weeks have elapsed since that memorable Sunday in Brackley. On the back of eight consecutive wins in a row we added our ninth in winning promotion to the National League after seven long and depressing years stuck in the North. Now back in the top echelon of non-league football we face up to a team that we also played on the opening day of the 2005-06 season when Woking come to Aggborough. That day we beat our guests 2-0 with both goals coming from Taiwo Atieno (remember him?). Woking are also the team that we played, and lost to, when we gained promotion