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** LATEST NEWS **
- 27 February
Jan's A Happy Man
Jan Molby, the Harriers manager, was thrilled to have seen his side bounce
back to winning form with the local derby victory over Shrewsbury last night.
He said, "I thought it was a tremendous game, in the first 25 minutes there
was a lot of chances and shots at goal and we're quite prepared to play like
that. They got on top the last 20 minutes of the first-half but second-half
we've completely dominated. I don't think there's another team in the Football
League that creates as many chances as we do. To miss the chances we did
tonight takes some doing and it's the same old story we have had to rely on an
own goal. Our energy and pace was back and nobody can live with that. They
came at us and did leave gaps and we exploited that".
The boss still feels that the play-offs are an attainable goal, particularly
as players begin to return from injury, "We're still in there, it's a long shot
but we've still got a chance with our games in hand. We'll get players back
and Danny Williams will definitely be back for Saturday".
Speaking about the performance of his fellow Dane Bo Henriksen who was
surprisingly deployed in midfield, he commented, "He was absolutely magnificent, he
made sure everything stuck together. I thought he was by far and away the best
player on the field although Mark Atkins did well for them. He took the pace
out of the game when we needed to and his passing was out of this world, next week
we'll probably play him at full-back!"
Molby's old adversary Kevin Ratcliffe, the Shrewsbury boss, was disappointed
that his team didn't get anything out of the game, "I thought we deserved at least
a draw, we controlled the game in that the majority of it was played in their
half. I thought if we got one goal then we would go on and get another but
we couldn't get that one. I know they created a couple of one on ones in the
last 20 minutes but that was when we were pushing forward. These games should
be won by one goal if both sides are playing with passion, not by three or four
like we did earlier in the season or they did last year. I think both
Kidderminster and Shrewsbury have come a million miles from two years ago and it
would be nice to play them in the play-offs, perhaps in the final!"
- 26 February
Harriers Tame The Shrews
An twelfth minute own goal from Micky Heathcote was enough to give Harriers
victory against Shrewsbury and end their run of five games without a win. The
Reds were boosted by the return of Bo Henriksen from injury, although he was
surprisingly used in midfield. Harriers dominated the game, playing their
best football for weeks and could have scored several more had their finishing
been better.
- 26 February
Shrewsbury Town Preview
The tough tests keep coming for Harriers as play-off hopefuls Shrewsbury
visit Aggborough this evening for a local derby match.
Harriers will be looking to build on the solid performance of Saturday
by adding an edge to their attacking play. Danny Williams may return from
injury to add inspration to the midfield and the return of Bo Henriksen up
front would add the goal threat that has been missing in the recent run of games
which sees Harriers now five games without a win.
The Shrews are coming into some form, unbeaten in four and hoping to record
a third straight victory for the first time this season. Harriers will hope
that their current away form continues as they have not won away from Gay Meadow
for six matches. The selection problems for boss Kevin Ratcliffe are
in attack, top scorers Luke Rodgers (suspended) and Nigel Jemson (injured) will
be missing, Ryan Lowe and loanee Tony Lormor will deputise.
The encounter at Gay Meadow earlier in the season was one of Harriers'
early season horror shows, Shrewsbury won 4-0. For a run down of previous
encounters click here.
I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Smith,
Hinton, Sall, Larkin, Williams, Broughton, Foster, Bennett.
- 24 February
Molby Blames The Referee
"We deserved more" - Jan Molby
Jan Molby left Home Park yesterday afternoon furious with referee Richard
Beeby for the penalty awarded against Scott Stamps that gave Plymouth their
winner. He said, "Both goals were highly controversial and because of that
we didn't deserve to lose. The corner that led to their first goal was
already two yards over the line before Mickey Evans has hit it against Stampsy,
so it should have been a goal kick. There was no way the referee was in a
position to give the penalty, he looked at the linesman and he didn't see anything
either".
Molby felt that the team deserved to get something from the game having put out
a weakened side and seen them put in a fully committed performance, "I can't take
anything away from the lads, considering the situation we were in they gave me
everything they had.
"I think we deserved more than we got. We brought our reserves down here
today because of the amount of injuries we had and I think because of that we
deserved more. They created one chance in the first half which our keeper
made a magnificent save, they've had loads of corners but no chances.
Plymouth boss Paul Sturrock also wasn't entirely happy with the referee
but was also unhappy with the level of performance given by his players, "Kidderminster
played a system that made it hard, and once they scored they made it harder. It
was a little like playing ourselves away from home and they played the system
well. It makes it difficult but my front two did not play to the standard I
expect and run the channels, as soon as they did that in the second half we created
them problems. The three subs came on and showed fresh legs and did their
job. It is a squad game these days. Kidderminster will feel aggrieved
over the penalty but it looked like a free kick for their goal, so it's "Evens-Stevens"
at the end of the day. Lady luck has gone against us in other games, today
she shone on us".
- 23 February
Plymouth Snatch Spot Prize
A controversial late penalty gave leaders Plymouth all three points at
Home Park. Harriers took the lead in the first half with a header
from Drewe Broughton, a triple substitution by the home team in the second
period turned the game with Graham Coughlan equalising within a minute and
the Paul Wotton scored the winner from the penalty spot after Scott Stamps
had been adjudged to have handled when Blair Sturrock's header hit him.
- 22 February
Plymouth Argyle Preview
Harriers face one of their stiffest tests yet tomorrow when they
travel to Home Park to face League Leaders Plymouth Argyle.
The injury-hit Harriers squad will be stretched to the limit with
Mark Blake, Danny Williams, Richie Appleby all long-term absentees.
Bo Henriksen and Andy Ducros are also almost certain to be missing, Sam
Shilton has not trained for days due to a bout of flu and Abdou Sall is
still doubtful. Forgotten man Tony Bird stands by to make a return
to the side after leading the Reserves to victory yesterday afternoon.
Plymouth have not had it all their own way on the injury front either,
Micky Evans has been missing with a knee injury while Kevin Wills has
been on the sidelines with an ankle injury. Both players are expected
to return tomorrow.
Earlier in the season the two sides played out a goalless draw at
Aggborough, but last season's visit to Home Park produced Harriers' worst
defeat of the season. For a full run down on previous meetings,
click here.
I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Clarkson, Stamps,
Smith, Hinton, Ayres, Larkin, Bird, Broughton, Foster, Bennett.
- 20 February
Molby Stands By His Men
"We have as good a midfield three as there is" - Jan Molby
Despite last night's disappointing defeat at home to Macclesfield, Harriers
boss Jan Molby stood by his injury-hit troops. Even though Harriers have not
won since January 22 and are four games without a win, Molby stills feels
the side have a good chance of making the play-offs, "We need to get back to
winning and we have got a difficult game on Saturday [at Plymouth]" he said.
The Dane felt that the game turned on the injury to the influential Richie
Appleby and that some of the players who came in were still rusty having not
played regularly recently, Daire Doyle had only made one substitute appearance
all season before last night, "The turning point in the game was when Richie
Appleby went off because he was running the game. It's his hamstring
and it looks like he could be out for a few weeks and if he is then that's a
blow. A lot of them who have come in haven't played at this level for a
long time so it's difficult for them. We have as good as a midfield
three as there is in the division but we were without all of them after Appleby
went off.
"For the first half an hour we have played as well as we have for quite a
while but if you don't score goals you don't win games. We had five or
six good chances in the first half which were missed by Foster, Broughton
and Bennett".
Macclesfield manager David Moss was delighted with his team's performance and
the vital three points they gained, "I'm delighted to come here and win, I
thought the back four were exceptional. A clean sheet away from home
and you get something from the game and that's what I've been looking for. I
thought it was a great game of football, we were under pressure in the first-half
and I wondered if we would ever get out".
- 20 February
Nottingham Forest Preview
Harriers youth team face another history making match tonight
when they face Nottingham Forest at The City Ground in the FA Youth
Cup.
Never before has the club's youth team reached the fifth round
of this competition, and a place in the quarter-final and a trip to
Goodison Park to face Everton is the prize.
Forest have a successful youth setup, Jermaine Jenas was recently sold
to Newcastle United for £5,000,000 and they have a number of youth internationals
in their squad, including German Eugen Bopp who should return from injury for
tonight's game.
Harriers boss Ian Britton has the bare minimum of players to choose
from tonight. Scott Lower has recently been suffering from flu which caused
him to miss last week's game at Paget, but has recovered now, Matt Lewis made
a brief appearance as sub in both Saturday's Under-19 game and last night's
Division 3 game after suffering a hamstring injury. Richard Langford
has also missed a coupleof games through injury but will hope to make tonight's
encounter as Forest's defenders will not enjoy coming up against him and
Lewis.
I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Danby, Lower, Garner, Khela,
Smallman, Yates, Bailey, Glynn, Lewis, Langford, Heath.
- 19 February
Sorry Harriers Stitched Up By Silkmen
A single goal was enough for Macclesfield to inflict Harriers' third
home defeat on them. Missing Sall, Blake, Williams and Henriksen
through injury Harriers gave one of their worst performances of the season
so far and lost Richie Appleby after half an hour with a hamstring injury. After
wasting a string of early chances, Harriers never looked like scoring and
once the visitors were ahead there was only going to be one result.
- 18 February
Macclesfield Town Preview
Harriers return to action tomorrow evening with the rearranged game against
Macclesfield postponed from January 26.
Harriers have selection problems in midfield, captain Mark Blake is out for
the rest of the season following surgery on his torn achilles. Danny Williams
gashed his leg at Swansea and may miss the game, although boss Jan Molby
challenged him to show what he is made of by being available. Bo Henriksen
also has problems with both his groin and hamstring and his most likely
replacement, Drewe Broughton, may also miss out with an injury sustained in the
Reserve Team game against Notts County last week.
Macclesfield have not won away in Division 3 since January 19, a run of four
games, but they did manage a good win over Bristol Rovers at Moss Rose on Saturday.
Earlier in the season Harriers recorded their first away win of the campaign
at Moss Rose and have a generally good record against The Silkmen. For a full
run-down of previous encounters, click here.
I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Smith, Hinton,
Sall, Larkin, Williams, Henriksen, Bennett, Appleby.
- 14 February
Blake Out For Season
Harriers skipper Mark Blake will miss the rest of the season as he
recovers from his achilles injury. He has undergone surgery to
repair the damage and will spend at least six weeks in plaster and
faces up to eight months out.
- 12 February
No Welcome In The Hillsides For Molby
Harriers boss Jan Molby made his first return to The Vetch this evening, and
after being given a rapturous reception by the home crowd watched as his
team threw away the lead, wasted a string of chances and then lost to the
Swans. Bo Henriksen gave Harriers the lead in the first half only
for it to be cancelled out by Chris Todd. Sloppy defending led to that goal and
even worse defending at a corner allowed Neil Sharp to hook in the winner
in the second half.
- 11 February
Swansea City Preview
Harriers will travel to South Wales tomorrow evening for the rearranged
meeting with Swansea City.
Harriers will be without skipper Mark Blake who badly hurt his ankle
in Saturday's draw with Carlisle, the extent of the injury is still not yet
clear but he will be out for some time. Andy Ducros will also still be
missing as he tries to overcome his hamstring injury.
Swansea are still one of the worst teams in the division on current
form, on Saturday an 81st minute goal from Andrew Mumford gave them a
2-2 draw at Leyton Orient and so end a run of five straight defeats.
Jan Molby and Richie Appleby will be making their first returns to
The Vetch since leaving the Swans and are sure to be given a warm reception
by the Swansea supporters who didn't want to see either of them leave.
Swansea were the first team to win at Aggborough in the League this
season winning 2-0. For a run-down on previous meetings, click here.
I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Smith,
Hinton, Sall, Larkin, Williams, Henriksen, Bennett, Appleby.
- 10 February
Molby Admits Harriers Were Lucky
Jan Molby admitted that his side were lucky to grab the late
equaliser that saved them from a fourth defeat at the hands of Carlisle.
He also felt that the recent lack of games due to the weather hadn't helped
Harriers cause with several players lacking match practice. He said, "We're
disappointed today but it's not the end of the world. They caused us a lot
of problems and in the end we're probably fortunate to get a draw. They were
a bit lucky with their second goal and we were lucky with our second goal. We
are going to drop points at home but what it means now is we'll have to beat
someone like Shrewsbury or Hartlepool. We have got a target to aim for which
is the play-offs and I believe it will go right to the wire. If we win one
or two of our games in hand we're back in the play-off spots but there's still
a third of the season to go.
"There were people out there who were rusty because they've not been playing
for a while. We lacked energy and that surprised me because we haven't played
for ten days. Things like this happen in football and there's no particular
reason why. I think we need games to get back to something like top form".
Carlisle boss Roddy Collins bemoaned the curse of Manager of the Month, his
side haven't won since he won the January award, and wasn't entirely happy with the
result feeling that they should have won. ""I'm happy enough with the result
although I do feel it is more two points dropped than a point earned. I
knew they would create chances as they are a very good passing team who
are always comfortable in possession and play good attractive football but
we were well organised and we squeezed them well and I felt we could always
hit them on the break. They came at us and attacked us and that left holes
at the back which we exploited well, we were always in control at the back
but I am a little disappointed at the way we conceded the goals. But I'm
not going to criticize Peter Keen as mistakes do happen and he's probably
earned us about 9 points this season on his own. It shows how far we've
come this season when we go to places like Luton, Rochdale and here and
come away with draws and thinking we could have won the games. My aim this
season is still to finish one place above the bottom team and go for it
next season".
- 9 February
Appleby Fluke Saves Harriers
A freak goal by Richie Appleby six minutes from time saved Harriers
from defeat at the hands of bogey side Carlisle. Despite taking an early
through Adie Smith, Harriers fell behind to two goals from Steve Halliday. With
time running out Appleby's cross from the right deceived Keen in the Carlisle
goal and dropped in at the far post.
- 8 February
Carlisle United Preview
Harriers enterain Carlisle tomorrow afternoon hoping to break the hoodoo
that the Cumbrians have over them.
In three league meetings and one FA Cup tie Carlisle have been triumphant,
with Harriers' only success being in last season's LDV Trophy.
With the bad weather recently Harriers have not played many games which has
given all of the injured players opprtunity to recover and Jan Molby should
have a near full squad to choose from. Colin Larkin and Andy Ducros may be
back in contention after the hamstring injuries, and Mark Blake came through
a run out in the Reserves on Wednesday without any obvious problem. Adie
Smith did limp off during the Reserve game with Tranmere and may still be struggling
with a groin strain.
Carlisle will probably field the same team that lost at home to Darlington
in midweek with the exceptions of Steve Soloey who is returning from
suspension in place of Stuart Whitehead, and Steve Halliday coming in up
front for Ian Stevens who tweaked his hamstring in the game against
Darlington. Definitely out are Brendan McGill and Will McDonagh who are
long term injury victims.
As stated above Harriers don't have a good record against Carlisle, the
defeat at Brunton Park earlier in the season was probably the low point of
the whole campaign so far. For a full run down of previous encounters,
click here.
I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Blake,
Hinton, Sall, Foster, Williams, Henriksen, Bennett, Appleby.
See also: Carlisle
United Online
- 7 February
Fixture Changes
A number of fixtures involving all four of Harriers teams have been arranged
or re-arranged in the last few days.
The key changes are as follows:
First Team:
Feb 12 Swansea (A)
Feb 19 Macclesfield (H)
Mar 6 Solihull (H) TBC
Mar 26 Cheltenham (A)
Reserve Team:
Feb 13 Notts County (H) Now 2pm
Feb 21 Carlisle (H) 2pm
Under-19 Team:
Feb 9 Walsall (A)
Feb 11 Notts County (H) at Bromsgrove 7.15pm
Feb 23 Rushden (H) at Bromsgrove
Youth Team
Feb 13 Paget (A)
Feb 27 Wellington (A)
Mar 7 Boldmere (A)
Mar 11 Burton (H) at Bromsgrove
Mar 18 Boldmere (H) at Bromsgrove
Mar 25 Hinckley (H) at Bromsgrove
- 7 February
Henriksen Deal Made Permanent
Bo Henriksen has made his career with the Harriers permanent by signing a
two-and-a-half year contract which will keep him at the club until the
summer of 2004.
Since arriving from Danish side Herfølge on a three-month loan in
November, "Bomber" Henriksen has made himself a favourite with the Aggborough
faithful scoring five times in thirteen games.
The transfer has cost Harriers an undisclosed five-figure sum which was
previously reported as being £12500.
- 6 February
Reserves Out Of League Cup
A goalless draw at Aggborough against Tranmere was not enough to allow
Harriers to make progress in the Central League Cup. Instead, Tranmere themselves
took second place in Group 1 and qualified along with Wrexham for the Quarter-Final.
- 2 February
Swansea Game OFF
Harriers have again fallen victim to the weather, the rain that has
fallen on South Wales for the last few days left the pitch unplayable. It
took two pitch inspections, however, before the referee made the decision
to call off the game by which time both the Harriers players and supporters
coaches were on the way south.
- 1 February
Swansea City Preview
Jan Molby returns to his old stamping ground tomorrow, weather permitting, along with
other ex-Swans Richie Appleby and Tony Bird when Harriers travel to The Vetch to take on
Swansea.
It will be the first time that Molby has returned since he was sacked by The Swans in 1997.
When he gets there, he may have a few selection problems as four players have picked up
knocks in action during the week. Craig Hinton has a swollen foot, Scott Stamps a back
injury, Dean Bennett a foot injury and Drewe Broughton bruised ribs. All will have fitness
tests before the game and should be available for action. Mark Blake is still making slow
progress, however, as he struggles to overcame his achilles problem, and Andy Ducros and
Colin Larkin are also definitely out.
Swansea expect to welcome back leading scorer Mamady Sidibe after an ankle injury, and
Lee Jenkins may be available after being kept on the sidelines for four months with a knee
ligament injury. The Swans new owners are hoping for an above average attendance as the
club is struggling both financially and also on the pitch where they have lost their last
four games.
Earlier in the season Swansea triumphed at Aggborough 2-0 in a game which saw Stuart
Brock sent off. For a run-down of previous matches, click here.
Providing that the game survives an 8:30am pitch inspection, I expect Harriers to
line-up as follows: Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Smith, Hinton, Sall, Foster, Williams, Henriksen,
Bennett, Appleby.
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