Aggborough is again host to top-class local opposition this afternoon when First Division side West Bromwich Albion, along with ex-Harrier Lee Hughes, come to town.
Ian Britton will have a smaller squad to choose from now as he has decided not to offer contracts to Eliot Paschalis and Mark Danks, so reducing the number of trialists at the club, and also has some injuries to contend with.  John Williams is unlikely to figure after picking up an ankle injury in the game agains Leicester earlier in the week, while Matt Gadsby and John Danby both have knee problems.
Albion manager Gary Megson has been busy in the transfer market signing four players so far: Rob Hulse from Crewe, James O'Connor from Stoke City, Bernt Haas from Sunderland and yesterday Artim Sakiri from CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria.

Premiership side Leicester sent a strong side to Aggborough for their first friendly this evening but were not good enough to beat Harriers.  An entertaining game for a friendly saw a goalless first half and then Leicester took the lead seconds into the second with a header from Brian Deane.  Harriers fought back well and equalised with a volley from Sam Shilton, there were further chances for both sides to claim victory but the game ended all square.

If you thought it was bad enough trying to keep track of all of the trialists that Ian Britton has used so far this summer, you ain't seen nothing yet as Premiership side Leicester City roll into town tomorrow evening for the first friendly at Aggborough.
Foxes boss Micky Adams has so far signed nine new players and made an offer on a tenth as he prepares his squad for the challenge of consolidating their position in the Premiership after winning promotion in the season just ended.  So far he has signd Craig Hignett from Blackburn Rovers, Ben Thatcher from Tottenham, veteran striker Les Ferdinand also from Tottenham, Lilian Nalis from Chievo Verona, Steve Howey from Manchester City, Paul Brooker from Brighton and Hove Albion, Riccardo Scimeca from Nottingham Forest and Danny Coyne from Grimsby Town.  With any luck they won't have worked out each other's names yet and their lack of practice will play into Harriers' hands.
Harriers' trialists are beginning to show what they are capable of and this stronger test should give the clearest indication yet of which players are worth offering full-time contracts to.  Saturday's game at Boldmere suggested that John Williams who netted his second and third goals of the summer and Narada Bernard who set up two of the six could be the best options.  Missing through injury was Nick Heath who in the previous two games that he wants to impress his worth upon manager Ian Britton.  By the end of the week when Harriers face West Bromwich Albion Britton could have made more decisions and the club could have more than fourteen contracted players.

Trialists were to the forefront again as Harriers crushed Midland Alliance side Boldmere 6-1 at Church Road.  After an opening own goal the following five goals all came from trialists, in fact in the three games played so far only one goal has come from a contracted player: Matt Lewis in the game at Evesham.
John Williams and Narada were heavily involved in most of the best Harriers moves in the first half, with Williams finding the net twice.  After the break Boldmere pulled one back through Aaron Roberts but Harriers ran away with the game with further strikes from new trialist Kyle Lightbourne, Craig Wilding and Mark Danks.

For the second time in two days Harriers fielded two teams in their friendly against lower league opposition.  In searing temperatures Harriers were made to work hard to get past Midland Alliance side Stratford.
Harriers had the best of the game throughout but it was not until eight minutes from the end that trialists Mark Danks and Graham Ward combined with Ward applying the finishing touch to win the game.

Harriers began their pre-season warm-up with a comfortable win over Evesham with trialists making the most of their opportunities and scoring two of the goals in a 3-1 win.
Ian Britton used more of his established stars in the first half, with new-boy Matt Gadsby at the heart of the defence alongside Kevin Murphy while Criag Wilding lined up in attack next to Matt Lewis.  It was Lewis who opended the scoring just before the half-hour mark to give the Harriers an interval lead.  After the break former Harrier Jay Powell scored to bring the home team level but in the last fifteen minutes trialists John Williams and Eliot Paschalis both found the net to wrap up the game for Harriers.

Harriers are back in action at last this weekend with a double-header of pre-season games.  This afternoon they visit Common Road to face Evesham United and tomorrow it's off to Shakespeare country to take on Stratford Town.
Expect to see lots of new faces and a myriad of substitutions as manager Ian Britton uses the games to give a run out to every fit player in his squad which currently numbers 24.  In addition to the fourteen players who are lucky enough to have contracts with the club there are ten extra players - two from the youth team, seven trialists and Kenny Coleman.  From the youth team are Nick Heath, who managed a couple of minutes of Division Three action last season, and Robert Taylor who is a talented left-sided midfielder.
The trialists are made up of Graham Ward and Mark Ward, a midfielder and forward respectively both were released by Wolves.  Coming from Walsall is midfielder Eliot Paschalis while strikers John Williams and Craig Wilding have played in the League, Williams for Swansea City and Wilding at Chesterfield and York City.  There are also defenders to look at: Kevin Murphy, formerly of Sheffield United, and Narada Bernard who has spent the last three seasons at AFC Bournemouth but was with Tottenham and Arsenal as a youngster.  Despite his exotic sounding name he was actually born in Bristol.
Evesham and Straford were both featured in the pre-season programme last season, the opening game at Stratford ended in a 1-1 draw and then Evesham were despatched 4-0.