24-09-21 – Preview – AFC Fylde Vs Kidderminster Harriers

Preview: Phil Lench

The Harriers will be facing their biggest challenge so far when they travel up to the desolate wastes of the Fylde to take on the AFC of that parish. With AFC Fylde unbeaten in the league so far this season a Harriers win there could be a pivotal point in our hopes to achieve promotion back into the National Premier.

Fylde did come a cropper (twice) in the FA Cup last weekend when they could only manage a draw at home to Spennymoor Town on Saturday then fell to a 1-0 defeat over in Durham on Tuesday evening. It either means that they’ll come back stronger tomorrow or it could mean that they have a weak spot waiting to be exploited.

We’ll have to go there without Cliff Moyo (injured) and Mark Carrington (suspended) but hopefully we’ll have Nathan Cameron back now that he’s fit once more following his slight hamstring pull. We could really do with him on their heavy, and sometimes soggy, pitch but if he isn’t available then hopefully Alex Penny could step in and take over from Keith Lowe. He could possibly have problems with it as shown the time we played them back in 2017.

Last Saturday we progressed in the FA Cup at the expense of Sporting Khalsa (two goals for Nyal Bell in that one) while the previous week we lost 3-2 at home to Gateshead in the league. Our first defeat of the season.

The Harriers midfielder Lewis Montrose will be returning to the club that we signed him from in Jly 2020. He’ll be eager to play against them if picked.

Since Fylde were last in this league they have lost the services of their top striker Danny Rowe who joined Oldham Athletic and is now with Chesterfield. In their current line up he has been replaced by the less prolific Jack Sampson along with Stephen Dobbie and Jordan Hulme. It’s hard to work out who has scored for them due to Fylde not releasing statistics of players or any similar information.

That’s the reason why I can’t give you any team news for them.

So we’ll be going there with high hopes of getting a positive result but I’d be happy with a draw to be honest. A win would un-deniably be a massive bonus though. 

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

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

AFC Fylde from:

Neal, Jones, Walder, Long, Burke, Pike, Conlon, Nolan, Obi, Whitmore, Tollitt, Philliskirk, Hulme, Haughton, Osborne, Joyce, Shaw, Sampson, Perkins, Dobbie, Stott, Walker, Robinson.

Referee: Mr Richard Holmes. Preston

Talk about the game here

Links to AFC Fylde websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here