24-03-22 – Preview – Gateshead Vs Kidderminster Harriers

Preview: Phil Lench

The Harriers head off to the Heed tomorrow in a top of the table clash that could give the winners a literal six points. If we were to win it would put us just five points behind first placed Gateshead with two games in hand while if, hopefully, Brackley Town were to come a cropper at Southport then we would be just one point behind them and the same amount of games played. All very intriguing.

This all depends on the weather though and with rain forecast all over the North East today and Saturday then there may not be a game at all.

We tripped up massively on the road last weekend when we lost at bottom placed Farsley Celtic and it was a result that was never expected and should not really have happened. We can blame the poor pitch and the equally poor referee as much as we like but to not even turn up was unforgiveable. It was the same for both teams and if the pitch was supposedly more favourable to Farsley then why are they stuck at the bottom of the table.

Hardly a shot on goal from us tells its own tale.

That game has also left us with a major problem too after Alex Penny spent most of the game limping before Joe Foulkes came on for him in the seventieth minute and then found himself red carded fifteen minutes later. Joe will now miss the Gateshead game while Alex could also be missing too. The only option, off the top of my head, would be for Nathan Cameron to slot in or maybe Mark Carrington could do a job there.

The only other doubt we have is with Keziah Martin with him still missing after that brief appearance a few weeks ago against West Ham Utd.

From a low of ninth place back in October the Heed have been at or near the top ever since. At first they took over from AFC Fylde but with them dropping like a stone they’ve now alternated top spot between themselves and Brackley in recent weeks. Our lowest point was tenth in October and since then we’ve stayed, more or less, in the play off places and in third place for the last six games.

Fylde are the team below us but being six points adrift and a game more they’re no worry to us at the moment. They did win 3-0 at Gateshead a few weeks ago so there’s a good omen that we can hold tight.

For injuries within the Gateshead squad then I have no idea and neither do their own fans though. They recently bought back Carl Magnay from Spennymoor Town and quite a few youngsters have gone out on loan in recent weeks and that’s left them a little short on numbers which seems a strange policy to employ.

No doubt that the Harriers squad are fired up for this one after the Farsley defeat and no doubt that Russ Penn is looking forward to it too having played for them before as did Nyal Bell but he seems to be the forgotten one at Aggborough.

Can we get a win there? That all depends on our desire to improve on last week, to concentrate, to be solid and above all to score. To score more than them would be brilliant but I think this is going to end all square.

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Simpson, Emery, Richards, Cameron, Moyo, Penny, Bajrami, Lowe, Austin, Redmond, Lissimore, Montrose, Carrington, Martin, Freemantle, Bastable, Tolley, Hemmings, Bell, Morgan-Smith, White, Sterling-James.

Gateshead from:

Marschall, Errington, Forbes, Jacob, Magnay, Nicholson, Storey, Tinkler, Williamson, Bailey, Charters, Greenfield, Hunter, Leech, Olley, Pani, Ward, Blackett, Campbell, Langstaff, Ogbewe, Scott, Thomas.

Referee: Mr James Westgate. Durham

Talk about the game here

Links to Gateshead websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here