Proper County rivalries are renewed tomorrow when Harriers head to St George's Lane for the FA Trophy 3rd Round.

With the exception of Worcestershire Senior Cup ties and real minor contests like the President's Cup the two teams haven't met in serious competition in a generation.  The last time the sides met in a proper match was April 1985 when a John Powell hat-trick and another goal from Alan Ollis gave Harriers a 4-1 win and helped City towards relegation.  Tomorrow's game will be the 50th post-war meeting of the sides at St George's Lane and history is not on Harriers side as they have only won 12 of the previous 49.  Overall City hold the upper hand, too, with 52 wins to 37 from 105 previous meetings.

Steve Burr may make changes to the side again, even though Harriers won 4-1 in midweek over a poor Grays side; Robbie Matthews should be available after missing out through a bout of 'flu and will probably come back into the side at the expense of Aaron Farrell.  Darryl Knights and Dean Bennett face fitness tests on the knocks that kept them out of the starting line-up on Tuesday, while the only definite absentee is David McDermott who has stomach ulcers.  Burr's biggest selection dilemma is in goal where Jasbir Singh played well on his Conference debut in the Grays match in place of regular keeper Dean Coleman and will hope to keep his place.

City have won their last two matches, the first under new manager Carl Heeley who took over from Richard Dryden who was sacked after their first meeting with Carshalton Athletic in the previous round.  Before Heeley took over they had won just once in their previous ten Conference South games and as a result of their dreadful season they find themselves one place above the relegation zone.  They feature a number of ex-Harriers in their side: Mark Clyde, Graham Ward, Wayne Daniel and Rob Davies have all worn the Harriers red while Craig Wilding, Jordan Fitzpatrick, Marco Adaggio and Rob Elvins have all turned out as trialists.

I expect Harriers to line-up as follows (4-3-3): Singh; Courtney, Baker, Caines, Riley; McPhee, Finnigan, Bennett; Matthews, Spencer, Smikle.
Subs (from): Coleman, Knights, Dolman, Hadley, Sharpe, Farrell, Hayward.
Missing (injured): McDermott.
Missing (on loan): Costello.

The weather for tomorrow afternoon in Worcester is forecast to be sunny with a temperature of just 1°C.