28-08-22. Match preview Vs Brackley Town

Preview: Phil Lench

Tomorrow the Harriers are off to Brackley One Nil in their nice new blue away kit hoping to please the travelling fans with the second win of the weekend and their third in a row. Strangely only one of the games between the two sides has ever ended 1-0 and that came last season when Brackley One Nil scored in the dying minutes of the game through, the now departed, Lee Ndlovu.

Yesterday we beat a poor Peterborough Sports side, 2-0, with the goals coming from Ethan Freemantle and Nathan Lowe. Amari Morgan-Smith came on late in the game for a cameo appearance following his recovery from injury and could now, hopefully, be looking at starting the game at St James Park.

While we were beating The Sports Brackley were down at Gloucester City winning, you guessed it, 1-0. Their goal early in the second half came from George Carline when he lobbed the former Harriers keeper Brandon Hall to score. It was another former Harriers custodian that kept them falling for a draw on the hour when Danny Lewis saved a Matt McClure penalty.

Brackley had Shepherd Murombedzi red carded last Saturday in their 3-0 home defeat to Farsley Celtic and, by rights, they have to wait seven days before the suspension takes effect. For some reason he, instead, missed the Gloucester game yesterday and one has to wonder if some kind of trickery has taken place to allow him to play against us? We’ll see.

Since half of their squad left at the end of last season – Ndlovu went to Boreham Wood, Tre Mitford to Gloucester, Matt Lowe to Accrington Stanley, Jaanai Gordon and Ellis Myles to Boston Utd, Alex Prosser to Leamington FC, Louie Lomas to Southend Utd while Connor Franklin has retired – their manager Kevin Wilkin has been busy bringing new players in but they have yet to click like previous Brackley teams.

Arrivals include Carline from Solihull Moors, Cosmos Matwasa from Stamford AFC, Callum Stead from Kettering Town and Jovon Makama on loan from Lincoln City.

We’ll still be without Alex Penny and Tom Owen-Evans tomorrow but Yusifu Ceesay should be fit enough to get onto the bench. We should have no other injury worries from the Peterborough game.

One player who will certainly be looking forward to the game is their former midfielder Shane Byrne. He left them two seasons ago for Boston but while with Brackley he was always a thorn in our side. Now he can be a thorn in theirs.

Photo © BUFC

Teams:

Harriers from:

Palmer, Emery, Penny, C Richards, Knight-Percival, Foulkes, Pearce, Margetson, Lowe, Bastable, Leak, Lissimore, Byrne, Brown, Owen-Evans, Rogers, Martin, Freemantle, Tolley, Hemmings, Morgan-Smith, Ceesay.

Brackley Town from:

Lewis, Worby, Calder, Carline, Cullinane-Liburd, Dean, Flanagan, Jones, Armson, Lopes, Massey, Putz, J Richards, Matwasa, Walker, York, Yusuf, Makama, Stead.

Referee: Mr Ruebyn Ricardo. Leicestershire

Talk about the game here

Links to Brackley Town websites here

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