Preview: Harriers v Curzon Ashton
February 10, 2017

Preview: Harriers v Curzon Ashton

Harriers return to league action tomorrow with the chance of a double when their Opening Day victims Curzon Ashton are the visitors to Aggborough.

With Tuesday's postponement of the trip to Stalybridge Harriers missed the chance of returning to second place and closing the gap on leaders Fylde.  The visit of mid-table Curzon gives Harriers the opportunity of recording their third league double of the season after beating Darlington and Nuneaton twice.

Harriers have a near full squad to choose from; Sam Hornby is still injured but Ryan Croasdale and Zaine Francis-Angol are close to a return and could feature.  Richard Sho-Silva, who has spent most of the season out on loan and hasn't yet made an appearance for the club will not feature as he has joined Stourbridge on a free transfer while youngsters James Hancocks and George Forsyth have joined Stratford Town on loan for a month and won't be a part of tomorrow's game.

Curzon have had a mixed season since their Opening Day thrashing by Harriers.  A slow start to the season has been followed by an upturn in form that has seen them rise up the table to mid-table, currently they sit in 12th place, 19 points behind Harriers having played two games more.  Their most recent victories have seen them see off the challenges of Darlington and leaders Fylde, so they will come to Aggborough with no fear.

Earlier in the season Harriers started their National League North campaign at Curzon with a 6-1 victory, goals from Elton Ngwatala, Mani Dieseruvwe, Ashley Carter, Arthur Gnahoua 2 and Liam Truslove got Harriers' season off to a flying start.  Prior to this season the clubs have met just once, Harriers winning an FA Cup tie 2-0 in 2008.

I expect Harriers to line-up as follows (4-3-3): A. Palmer; Williams, Ezewele, Lowe, Tunnicliffe; Croasdale, McQuilkin, Ngwatala; Knights, Dieseruvwe, Gnahoua.
Subs (from): Austin, A. Brown, Carter, Francis-Angol, T. Palmer, Taylor, Thomas, Truslove, Waite.
Missing (injured): Hornby.
Missing (on-loan): J. Brown, Clarke, Digie, Forsyth, Hancocks, Hodgkiss, Sweeney.

The man in the middle tomorrow will be Darren Strain from Runcorn.  This will be his third time in charge of a Harriers game having already done this season's home wins over Salford and Gloucester.

The weather forecast for kick-off time predicts that it will be cloudy with a temperature of 4°C and a 5% chance of rain.