25-10-21 – Preview – Chorley FC Vs Kidderminster Harriers

Preview: Phil Lench

On Saturday we put Bradford (Park Avenue) to the sword – five of them – and now we face a slightly tougher ask of going to Chorley FC and, hopefully, doing the same to them. That 5-1 win saw some spectacular goals including two from Omari Sterling-James with both of them in goal of the season contenders and a first goal for us from Nathan Cameron.

That win moved us up to ninth in the table and five places behind Chorley in fourth place. They consolidated that position in a lack lustre showing on the same day at Guiseley AFC where they failed to get a shot on target in the whole ninety minutes. They’ll be a little more potent at home so this is not going to be an easy game for both sides.

We might have been able to name an unchanged side from Saturday but that could change with the arrival of Nick Clayton-Phillips back at Aggborough while I was writing this preview. It was rumoured over the weekend and confirmed to me by Harriershane on Saturday evening and now, after continued discussion all day on the message board, the club have buckled and announced it officially.

Where he fits in is a bit of a mystery seeing as we also bought in a similar attacking midfielder last week in Elliot Bonds. Maybe someone is off out on loan? The likelihood is now that Mark Carrington might be rested to make way for new signing Elliot Bonds and NCP will find a place on the bench.

I don’t think we had any injuries from the Bradford game so it’s still Cliff Moyo, Lewis Montrose and Joe Foulkes missing. All long term.

The Magpies might include the former Harriers loanee Oliver Shenton in their lineup but he’s been sitting unused on the bench for recent games in favour of the ex Mansfield Town midfielder Willem Tomlinson. Their leading scorer is Connor Hall with four goals and he’s followed by two players on three goals each – Harry Cardwell and Millenic Alli. It’s Alli who is thought to be their best player but he mainly comes on from the bench.

Chorley don’t give much clue to their injury situation so I can’t give you much either apart from defender Andy Halls being the only long term injury with any others almost fit enough to play.

In previous seasons when we’ve trekked up to Chorley we’ve come away with a mixture of results, mainly losing, but last season we came away with a 2-0 win only for the game to get voided due to the pandemic. The scorer of those goals? Omari Sterling-James.

Can he do it again?

Photo © KHFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Simpson, Emery, Richards, Cameron, Penny, Bajrami, Lowe, Austin, Lissimore, Bonds, Carrington, Bell, Martin, Freemantle, Clayton-Phillips, Tolley, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith, White, Sterling-James.

Chorley FC from:

Urwin, Aspinall, Henley, Smith, Leather, Baines, Blakeman, Isherwood, Shorrock, Moran, Whitehouse, Calveley, Tomlinson, Shenton, Goodridge, Reeves, Spencer-McDermott, Birchall, Cardwell, Ustabasi, Blyth, Alli, Scarborough, Stansfield, Boyd, Hall.

Referee: Mr Ben Wyatt. Manchester

Talk about the game here

Links to Chorley FC websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here