31-01-25. Kidderminster Harriers Vs Sutton Utd. FA Trophy 5th Rd. Match preview

Preview:Phil Lench

We, the fans, were hoping that there would be a new striker in by now but that hasn’t happened yet and if it does then it’s going to be last thing this evening. The need for someone that can hit the net became apparent at Oxford City last Saturday when, in a second half devoid of joy, we failed to even get near goal let alone get anything on target.

Admittedly our heads had dropped following the assault on Joe Foulkes but that cannot be held as an excuse. Now we have to go into this home FA Trophy game against Sutton Utd without an integral player and no new striker that could hopefully help us into the next round.

Sutton come to us after a gap of twelve years when we easily beat them 4-1 in the FA Cup then stood back and watched them go into the Football League in 2019 for the next five seasons. Their relegation last season still leaves them in a higher division than us with them in eighth place and just one point out of the play-offs. Hopefully they’ll see us as a hindrance in their efforts to regain their FL place but probably not.

Joe will miss this game, obviously, and also the next two months, possibly. Phil Brown mentioned in yesterdays video that the injury inflicted on him by Josh Parker was to the ankle and possibly to his knee too. The club are now awaiting the scan results before making some kind of complaint to the powers that be.

There are no other new injuries with just the usual three of Beresford, Penny and Summerfield out long term. If there are new ones since last Saturday – our game at Brackley Town on Tuesday was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch – then we don’t know of any. 

We got through to this 5th round tie by easily beating Slough Town 4-1 in the previous round with Ashley Hemmings getting a hat trick. Sutton got through by beating Tamworth 1-0 at home in front of less than a thousand spectators (we got over 1800 for the Slough game) so I can’t really see them bringing many fans to Aggborough.

Some of our own fans have also expressed doubts about the wisdom of progressing in this tournament due to the more pressing need to get back into the National League. On the other hand there are those, including Phil Brown, that say we have to compete in everything that comes our way and if we’re good enough then we’ll win through anyway.

Here’s to a good competitive game and let’s just hope that it’s the Harriers who go into the hat on Monday.

STOP PRESS: We’ve just signed striker Charlie Lutz on loan from Aston Villa until the end of the season.

Referee: Mr Oliver Mackey. Leicester

Talk about the game here

Links to Sutton Utd websites here

Find Pubs around Kidderminster here