St@tto's Kidderminster Harriers Diary
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27 September Bristol Rovers Preview Ian Britton returns to his Bristol roots tomorrow to take on in-form Rovers and looking to improve upon their seven game unbeaten run. Harriers will probably be unchanged, Adie Smith was expected to return to the squad after recovering from injury but picked up a fresh knock in the midweek 2-1 friendly defeat at Rushden & Diamonds, a game in which Daire Doyle was the Harriers scorer. Apart from that there are no fresh injuries, Sean Parrish and Abdou Sall remain on the sidelines with hamstring and ankle problems respectively. After a terrible season last season when they finished 23rd, Rovers under new manager Ray Graydon are currently enjoying a much better time. They have won their last two games, a 2-1 win over Bury and then last week an excellent 5-2 victory at Shrewsbury which was their first away win of the season and included a hat-trick from Giuliano Grazioli who is their current leading scorer with seven. Last season's encounter at The Memorial Ground quickly descended into farce, referee Fraser Stretton sending-off three Harriers players - Abdou Sall, Gary Montgomery and Ian Foster - as Rovers ran out 2-1 winners. For a full rundown on previous encounters, click here. I expect Harriers to line up as follows: Brock, Hinton, Shilton, Clyde, Ayres, Stamps, Melligan, Williams, Broughton, Henriksen, Flynn. 22 September Brit Satisfied With Performance "The best of the season" - Ian Britton Ian Britton declared himself satisfied with what he considered to be Harriers' best performance of the season, but disappointed not to have won. Speaking straight after yesterday's draw with Rochdale at Aggborough he said, "Probably the best, well, it was the best of the season. [We] played very well. For seventy minutes the far better side, I think. Passed and fitness wise everything was far better than them but I say it again, we've missed chances. We can't keep carrying on like this, the back three or the back four are doing their jobs and we're not sticking them away at the other end. We're talking about good chances here, we're not talking about just little half chances, in on goal. We'll just keep working hard and keep practicing and hopefully it'll come right". Moving on to speak about Drewe Broughton, who missed all of Harriers' best chances, he said, "He's had three great chances and to be fair to him, in his defence, he is working very, very hard for the team, but at the end of the day he's up there to score goals and he hasn't, he hasn't scored one in ten games now". Returning to the subject of the team's overall performance he continued, "A lot of positive things from there, considering they're third in the league and doing very well, we've totally outplayed them. And, to be fair to their assistant manager, he's come over and said that we're the best team that they've played". Caught up in the euphoria of Harriers' growing unbeaten run and constantly improving performances he made a bold prediction, "I've just said to the lads now if they play like that consistently throughout the season then we'll be in the top seven. I don't know where, but we'll be in the play-offs". The manager admitted that the selection problems that he is beginning to face with players returning are a welcome distraction, "It's nice. I mean Foster to be fair was very, very unlucky to be left out because he did very well at Southend. But as I've always said I'll pick what I think is the right side on the day. But it's a nice thing, especially with Smith coming back now, he'll be available for next weekend so it's a nice dilemma to have". 21 September Harriers Draw Another Blank Harriers were held to yet another goalless draw, their fourth of the season, by high-flying Rochdale. Despite the relative positions in the table, it was Harriers who dominated the game throughout and created a string of chances but were unable to v=convert any and break down their visitors. Drewe Broughton was guilty of two glaring misses from chances that appeared easier to score than miss. Nonetheless, Harriers stretched their unbeaten league run to seven games and are beginning to look like they will be a dangerous team once the goals begin to flow. 21 September Harriers Drawn Away In LDV Vans Trophy The draw for the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy was made this morning with Harriers, in the Southern Section, handed a tough trip to Conference side Dagenham & Redbridge. The Londoners gave Boston a hard fight in the race for the title last season before finally finishing as runners-up. There will be at least one Conference team through to the second round as Southport have been drawn at home to Leigh RMI. Other interesting ties include Boston against Yeovil, a fairly-local derby in Cambridge v Rushden, Woking v Luton and Chester v Plymouth. 20 September Rochdale Preview Ian Britton's ploy of sending his squad home training for a couple of days seems to have paid off as he welcomes back the ill players for selection for tomorrow's visit of Rochdale. Also improving are all of the other injuries in the squad. Mark Blake is making good progress, Abdou Sall has been given the all-clear to begin training next week, and Dean Bennett's ankle is healed and he is available for selection. However, Adie Smith and Sean Parrish are both ruled out of tomorrow's clash with hamstring strains. Rochdale boss has a few injury worries himself as he tries to keep his team in their current run of good form. Ian Bishop is out with tendonitis in his heel and Chris Beech is a long-term absentee with a foot injury, Simpson is likely, however, to name an unchanged side from the one that beat Cambridge 4-3 in midweek. Rochdale currently lie second in the table with seventeen points from their opening nine games. Currently unbeaten in three games, they also have three away wins with victories at Bristol Rovers (2-1), Wrexham (5-2) and Carlisle (2-0). Harriers will be looking for a repeat of the scoreline from last season's encounter on Boxing Day when they ran out 4-1 winners with goals from Bo Henriksen (2), Mark Blake and Dean Bennett. For a full rundown on previous encounters, click here. I expect Harriers to line up as follows: Brock, Hinton, Stamps, Ayres, Clyde, Williams, Melligan, Flynn, Broughton, Henriksen, Shilton. 18 September Stomach Bug Closes Down Club Harriers have been forced to send all of the players home for the rest of the week as a precaution against the mystery stomach bug that is sweeping the club. On Tuesday Scott Stamps and Andy Ducros were forced to withdraw from the squad that travelled to Southend. Even manager Ian Britton has been a victim, but he spent the day working while all of the players were sent home in an effort to prevent it spreading. 17 September Blues Left Feeling Blue Another fine away performance by the Harriers saw them record their first away win of the season, and their first win at Southend, beating The Shrimpers 2-0. With Scott Stamps who was a victim of illness, Ian Britton was forced into changing his team again but it did not matter as they controlled the game from start to finish. The opening goal came shortly before the interval, a far post header from captain Sean Flynn - his first for the club, and just after the break from JJ Melligan - also a first goal for the club. 16 September Southend United Preview Harriers will be hoping for a continuation of the good form that they showed at Scunthorpe on Saturday when they visit Roots Hall tomorrow to take on Southend. Only a brilliant goal from Scunthorpe prevented Harriers from recording their first away win of the season and the Southend game is another that manager Ian Britton feels is winnable, so he is unlikely to go there with defence at the forefront of his planning. There were no fresh injuries to report after the trip to Glanford Park and the squad has been boosted by the addition of Dean Bennett who is recovering well from his ankle injury. Wholesale changes are unlikely to the team which looked well balanced with Craig Hinton and Sam Shilton in the wide roles and both loan signings settling in well. The Shrimpers are sitting just outside the play-off positions following their 1-0 victory over Macclesfield Town at the weekend, their third win in four games, with the winning goal coming from Leon Cort. Boss Rob Newman has no new problems to contend with and is set to name an unchanged side. Last season the corresponding fixture ended in a 1-0 win for Southend, their only victory over Harriers. For a full rundown on previous encounters, click here, I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Hinton, Shilton, Clyde, Stamps, Ayres, Melligan, Williams, Broughton, Henriksen, Flynn. 14 September Harriers Pegged Back By Iron A wonder strike from Scunthorpe midfielder Scott Brough robbed Harriers of two points from a game they looked set to win. Harriers gave debuts to loan signings Mark Clyde and JJ Melligan who both settled in quickly but it was the established players who created Harriers' half-time lead. Ian Britton changed the formation again, utilising three centre-backs and wing backs. Craig Hinton and Sam Shilton took the wide berths and combined to create the Harriers goal scored by Shilton. After the break Harriers began to dominate but were pegged back with twenty minutes remaining when Brough hit a screamer into the top corner from 25 yards out. 13 September Scunthorpe United Preview New signings JJ Melligan and Mark Clyde will go straight into the Harriers squad tomorrow for the trip to Glanford Park where Harriers will be looking to bounce back from the midweek Worthington Cup defeat and pick up some vital League points. Sean Parrish picked up a hamstring strain in the game at Forest and is almost certainly out of contention so Melligan should step in for him. With Adie Smith also set to miss out again, Clyde could come in for him so that the defence can return to more conventional back-four. Apart from Parrish there are no more fresh injuries for Ian Britton to contend with, Lee Ayres seemed to have shaken off the knee injury that threatened to keep him out of Wednesday's cup tie and gave a man-of-the-match performance. Scunthorpe's season has yet to get going and if Boston had not had a four point penalty it would be The Iron and not The Pilgrims at the bottom of the table. So far this season they have managed just one victory, a 2-1 win over York City at Glanford Park, with three draws and three defeats in the remaining games. Current top-scorer is Martin Carruthers with three from seven games, on of eleven players to have featured in every game at some point. Definitely out tomorrow will be Nathan Stanton who is serving a suspension for his sending-off in the game against Bristol Rovers. Last season Scunthorpe won the corresponding fixture 1-0 with a goal from Steve Torpey. Harriers will be hoping to record their first ever goal at Glanford Park tomorrow, with the form that Scunthorpe are in this may be the best chance they have. For a full run down on previous encounters, click here. I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Hinton, Stamps, Ayres, Clyde, Williams, Ducros, Flynn, Broughton, Henriksen, Melligan. 12 September Two Signings Bolster Squad Harriers boss Ian Britton has moved to alleviate the injury problems in his squad by bringing in two loan signings from neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers. JJ Melligan, a 20-year-old Irish midfielder, and defender Mark Clyde. Both players will be at Aggborough for one month with Wolves boss Dave Jones hoping that they will gain valuable experience as Colin Larkin did last season. Both players figured in the pre-season game at Aggborough. 11 September Forest Too Strong For Harriers Harriers were dumped out of the Worthington Cup at The City Ground when a very good Forest team ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. After weathering an early storm, Harriers began to get into the game and then gifted a goal to Forest's Jack Lester, Riccardo Scimeca added a second on the stroke of half time and the game was effectively over just five minutes into the second half when David Johnson scored the third. Lester scored his second from the penalty spot, and Forest could have had more against a Harriers side that didn't really do themselves justice. 10 September Nottingham Forest Preview Harriers take a break from League action tomorrow evening with the First Round of the Worthington Cup taking centre stage with a trip to The City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest. Perhaps best thought of as a "slumbering giant", former European Champions and four-time League Cup winners Forest are now a long way from the heady days of the late Seventies and Eighties. After a couple of seasons away from the Premier League Forest are enjoying a mixed start to their campaign, unbeaten at home but losing every away match. Manager Paul Hart has a young squad with few well known names, the experience is provided by veteran defender and Forest legend Des Walker, back at the club after a decade away, and Riccardo Scimeca who has found a run of form in front of goal since being given responsibilty for set-pieces. So far this season he has three goals after having scored just four in the rest of his career. Top scorer with four is David Johnson, a former Mancester United trainee, who cost Forest £3million when he joined from Ipswich Town. Harriers have no fresh injuries to contend with, Dean Bennett and Abdou Sall are both still recovering from ankle problelms and may have late fitness tests before a decision is made on their availability. With no great expectations of success on their shoulders, Harriers may be more adventurous in their approach to the game and try to finish it in 90 minutes. If the scores are level at 90 minutes, extra-time and penalties will be used to settle the tie. I expect Harriers to line-up as follows: Brock, Smith, Stamps, Ayres, Hinton, Williams, Doyle, Flynn, Broughton, Henriksen, Parrish. 7 September Harriers Held At Home - Again! Harriers played out a dour goalless draw with Boston United at Aggborough this afternoon which left their visitors rooted to the foot of the table and Harriers rueing two more dropped points to go with the two dropped last week in the game with Darlington. There were chances for Harriers to win the game - Bo Henriksen had a shot saved, Sean Flynn missed a real sitter and Andy Ducros had a couple saved - but they were never on the top of their game and struggled to break down The Pilgrims. 6 September Boston United Preview Drewe Broughton returns to the Harriers squad tomorrow after serving a one-game suspension that kept him out of last weekend's game against Darlington. Ian Britton will enjoy the extra selection dilemma of an extra player to choose from but will still have to do without the services of Dean Bennett and Abdou Sall who are both still struggling with ankle injuries. Both players have been able to train this week but are still some way off selection. Boston have a number of injuries to consider themselves, stand-in manager Neil Thompson has been suffering with a calf injury and missed the last game against Bury but is back in training and could make the squad. Mark Greaves, the recent signing from Hull, picked up a knock to his foot in the Bury game and is not certain to play but Tom Bennett is a possible returnee after a knee injury. Almost certain to miss out is Ben Chapman. A mixed start to their League career has not been helped by their four point penalty and find themselves still rooted to the foot of the table. Away from home they have lost twice and drawn one but managed a goos win at Bristol Rovers in the Worthington Cup while at home they recorded their only league win of the campaign with a 2-0 local derby victory over Lincoln City. Harriers will be looking for their first home win over Boston since 1988 when Rob Jones scored the winner in a 1-0 win. For a full rundown of previous meetings, click here. I expect Harriers to line up as follows: Brock, Smith, Stamps, Ayres, Hinton, Williams, Ducros, Flynn, Broughton, Henriksen, Parrish. |
