Harriers are hoping to get their first points of the New Year at Torquay tomorrow.
With Torquays Plainmoor Stadium cleared of snow and a thaw setting in it is looking unlikely that the game will be called off.

Ian Foster (hamstring), Paul Webb (groin), Ian Clarkson (hamstring) and Adie Smith (achilles) have all recovered from their injuries and will join the squad on the English Riviera, as will three players who have picked up minor knocks in the past week; Parfait Medou-Otye (knee), Dean Bennett and Ian Bogie (both back problems).

Harriers met Torquay on the opening day of the season back in August ending up the winning side with goals from Hadley and Horne.

Jan Molby said;
"That was a very good day and obviously the right result for us, but it will be an entirely different thing going down there.
They have a reasonable home record and have had some good results, including a 0-0 draw with the league leaders Chesterfield.
So they are no mugs, although they find themselves at the wrong end of the table, slightly unexpected I would have to say.
The result at Aggborough got them off to a bad start and they haven't really got out of that, but they will be as keen as ever to put the record straight."

"If we think it's going to be like the first game of the season then we will be in for a bit of a surprise because they will really come at us.
The danger for us will be their front men Tony Bedeau and Eifion Williams.
They are two big, strong and lively strikers."

Torquay will be without new striker John Gayle for tomorrow's game.
The 36yr old striker is out with a hamstring strain and has been advised to rest.

Harriers (from):
Brock, Clarke, Stamps, Medou-Otye, Clarkson, Smith, Hinton, Shail, Horne, Bennett, Bogie, Webb, Ducros, Mackenzie, Hadley, Foster, Durnin, Bird.

The referee of tomorrows game at Aggborough Vs Scunthorpe, Mr. Stretton of Notts, inspected the pitch at 3.00pm today and said that he would be doing another inspection tomorrow at 10.00am.
A gang of fifty volunteers helped to clear some of the snow away this morning and volunteers will be needed again from 8.00am tomorrow morning armed with shovels and brooms to finish the job.

If the game does go ahead as planned then it may see a return of club captain Ian Clarkson after his hamstring injury.
He will have to fight for his place along with the impressive Parfait Medou-Otye so could find himself starting on the bench.

Other injuries:

• Adie Smith (Achilles) should play
• Ian Foster (Hamstring) doubtful
• Paul Webb (Groin) will not play

Saturday's game between Harriers and Scunthorpe may be snowed off following heavy snow on Wednesday night.
Club officials have arranged a pitch inspection for tomorrow (Friday 29th December) at 3pm.

At the moment Aggborough is under several inches of snow but it is thought better to leave the snow on the pitch as long as possible to act as an insulator.

One wonders where the cover that the club acquired from Aston Villa some years ago has gone to?

Jan Molby has had a bid to bring in Kieron Durkan on loan from Macclesfield Town turned down after the transfer listed winger earned a recall against York.

Molby informed Macclesfield about his interest in the former Stockport winger before Christmas, but it is now believed he wants to remain at Moss Rose.

27yr old Durkans' contract finishes at the end of the season and York City are reported as wanting to sign him permanently.

Lionel Newton has issued a 'come and get him' to clubs chasing the Harriers defender Craig Hinton.
He has told any clubs who would be at all interested to "Start the bidding at £500,000."

This strange announcement came after another brilliant display by Craig against Mansfield on Boxing Day.

"What a player," said Newton. "We don't want to sell a player of Craig's calibre, but I know there are bound to be clubs interested in him and I would tell them we wouldn't entertain doing business at anything less than £500,000."

So now he's got a price on his head that should convince him that he's got a future at Aggborough.
At the moment he is considering the offer of a new three and a half year contract, even though his present deal still has 18 months to run.
But if another team is interested what will he do?

Harriers new signings Parfait Medou-Otye and Neil MacKenzie are set to make the starting eleven for the Harriers first ever visit to Hull tomorrow.
Frenchman Medou-Otye will take up the right back slot because Ian Clarkson has not recovered from his groin injury yet.
Mark Shail will take over the skipper's duties in place of Clarkson.

Also out tomorrow will be Paul Webb (groin problem).
Scott Stamps should re-appear now his ankle injury has cleared up.

Harriers (from);
Brock, Clarke, Stamps, Medou-Otye, Smith, Hinton, Shail, Horne, Bennett, Bogie, Ducros, Mackenzie, Hadley, Foster, Durnin, Bird.

Hull City (from);
Musselwhite, Goodison, Whittle, Brightwell, Edwards, Harper, Greaves, Brabin, Whitmore, Brown, Marcelle, Perry, Swales, Philpott, Eyre, Bracey, Wood, Bradshaw.

The last and only time that the Harriers played Hull was on 14th November 1964 in the FA Cup when the Tigers beat the Reds 4-1 at Aggborough.

The Harriers are offering reduced price season tickets before and after the match on Boxing Day against Mansfield.
They will be available from the ticket office in the Directors car park and will be priced as follows:

Terrace:
Adults: £92
Over 65's: £61
Students: £36

Seats:
Adults: £123
Over 65's: £81
Under 16's: £41

Kidderminster Harriers are to install a new £20,000 electronic scoreboard at Aggborough.

The scoreboard which has been partially funded by 'The Friends of the Harriers', will be installed once planning permission has been granted.

Harriers beat Solihull Borough 3-1 tonight in the quarter final of the Worcester Senior Cup.
Goals from Ian Foster, Dean Bennett and Tony Bird sealed the win over last season's finalists.

Harriers now meet Moor Green in the Semi-Final of the competition.

Thomas Skovbjerg made his first team comeback after receiving a knee injury last March.
He received a standing ovation when he was replaced after 62 minutes.
Tommy showed that he hadn't lost his touch with some nice running and passing.

Harriers:
Murphy, Barnett, Jackson, Davies, Ayres, Hall, Bennett, Skovbjerg, Bird, Foster, Corbett.
Subs:Reeves, Polston, Clarke, Yates, Cunnington.

The Harriers have confirmed that the LDV Vans Trophy 2nd rd match will be played at Gigg Lane, Bury on Wednesday 10th January 2001 (KO 7.45pm).

Following the news of Colin Lees' long awaited sacking from the Managers job at Molineux comes the paper talk of Jan Molby on the shortlist to replace him.

Todays Express & Star more or less makes 'Our Lord' the second favourite for the impossible task of returning the Wolves to their 'rightful place' in the Premier League.

Favourite for the job is Walsalls' Ray Graydon.
That should please the Bescot faithful.

Jan replied to the news with his standard comment;
"There is nothing I can do to stop my name being linked with other jobs, but the facts are that I signed a four year deal in the summer and I am only six months into that.
I feel there is still a lot of work to be done at Kidderminster.
There is certainly potential here."

Thomas Skovbjerg may be returning to first team action earlier than expected in tonight's Worcestershire Senior Cup quarter final at Aggborough Vs Solihull Borough ( ko 7.45).

He has already played in some recent reserve games as part of his fightback from a cruciate knee ligament injury which he received against Altrincham on March 11th.

Jan Molby said:
"It's obviously a long process now for him of just playing games.
It will be nice for him to have a run out tonight as he needs as many games as possible.
We now have a break in reserve team matches, which is unfortunate, so he needs to play tonight.
When you have been out for that long you always look forward to any game."

Paul Webb should also be in the team tonight, but not Scott Stamps and Ian Clarkson.
Webby has been suffering from a groin injury, Stamps has had ankle ligament trouble and Clarkson has had hamstring problems.
All three should be available for selection for Saturday's Nationwide League Division Three trip to Hull City.

Tonight's side is likely to include first team, reserve and youth players.

Molby said:
"It's a competition we would like to win again and now we are a Football League club we can put out any team we want.
But I'd like to think that the team we will put out will be good enough to win."

The Harriers will have to travel to Manchester to play Second Division Bury in the second round of the LDV Vans Trophy.
All ties will be played week commencing Monday 8th January 2001.
Bury beat Div 3 side Mansfield 2-1 in the 1st rd.

Thomas Skovbjerg continued his re-habilitation last night with a goal against Burton Albion in a Central Conference reserve match.
Tommy was playing only his second match following his return from an eight month lay-off following his cruciate knee ligament injury.

The match also saw the return of Paul Webb who has been out of the side for the last six games because of his groin injury.
He played the full 90 minutes at centre-half as Harriers reserves won 3-1.

The other two goals came from a trialist, 21 yr old midfielder Darren Middleton, from Stafford Rangers.

And another trialist on show was a Canadian, 25yr old Tony Capasso.
"Tony's been playing in America at a standard just below the top league," said Jan Molby.

Harriers have had another game postponed after the game this coming weekend at Shrewsburys' Gay Meadow was called off after floodwater entered the dressing rooms.
Shrewsbury officials said that there was no need for a referee's inspection because it was obvious that the floodwater would not recede in time.

It appears that Shrewsbury had asked for the game to be played at Aggborough in lieu of the return fixture in March, but the Harriers management refused to consider it stating that there was not enough time to arrange it.

Maybe they couldn't face another low crowd.

No new date has yet been fixed

If tonights game against Carlisle, name rings a bell, go's ahead then there should be a few changes from Saturdays defeat against the Cumbrians.

Definitely out will be Ian Clarkson (hamstring) and Paul Webb (groin).
Border line hopeful is Dean Bennett (back spasm).

There should be starts for Neil Mackenzie who has come on as sub for the last three games and a long awaited debut for Parfait Medou-Otye.

The Aggborough pitch passed an inspection at 9.00am this morning but it is raining as I write this, 4.15pm, so there may be another inspection later on.

Admission prices have been reduced for tonight with Kids for a Quid in operation.

Harriers (from);
Brock, Stamps, Hinton, Shail, Smith, Horne, Mackenzie, Ducros, Foster, Durnin, Medou-Otye, Bennett, Hadley, Clarke, Corbett, Davies.

Carlisle (from);
Glennon, Winstanley, Birch, Maddison, Whitehead, Prokas, Galloway, Thurston, Connelly, Dobie, Stevens, Heggs, Hemmings, Halliday, Darby, McAughtrie.

Harriers Chairman, Lionel Newton, has said that he will scrap the plans for a new stand at Aggborough if gates continue to fall.
The attendance of 2,533 for the FA Cup tie against Carlisle was the lowest of the eighteen second round ties at the weekend.

This is especially galling when the Southport v Kingstonian Cup tie attendance was 3,659.

The plans are for an all seater replica of the main stand to replace the 'Cowshed', but Mr. Newton now says the club may have to go back to the drawing board.

Under the Taylor Report, Harriers have to double their current number of 1,100 seats within three years of entering the League.

Newton said:
"If gates keep dropping I will have to reconsider the plans.
We can't spend money on a replica of the main stand if we're never going to fill it.

What is the point - we may as well just have 800 plastic seats.

It's alarming. If we start getting crowds of 2,200 or 2,300 in the New Year then we'll have to look at every avenue.
Saturday's result was heartbreaking but what absolutely gutted me was the crowd.

I don't know whether this town wants a football club.

If the people of Kidderminster don't start coming out this club will end up in the Dr Martens League within three years."

Mr. Newton also said how close the club had come to losing manager Jan Molby.

"If Jan was to walk out tomorrow I would not blame him.
He could have walked off to Wigan in the summer, trebled his wages and be living 20 minutes from the job, but he chose to stay with Kidderminster.

We have good facilities, a good manager and good infrastructure.
The support is the stumbling block and if they want us to move to the next step we have to get more people in.

I know the difference in the FA Cup records but Yeovil went up to Blackpool in their thousands yet we can barely muster 2,000 of our own against Carlisle."

Out of the crowd of 2,533 on Saturday Carlisle fans numbered 380.

Jan Molby said that the FA Cup 2nd rd defeat against Carlisle was "the worst performance since I have been here.
We were out-worked, out-battled, outplayed.
It was a shocking performance but hopefully it was a one-off," said Molby.

Any hopes Harriers had of reaching the third round for only the second time in their 114yr history were destroyed by goals from Connelly and Dobie.
And to top it all Carlisle got a fantastic home tie with Arsenal in the third round draw.

Jan added;
"As a team we didn't fancy it.
You would have thought the carrot of the third round of the FA Cup would have been big enough, but we were never at the races.
We started slowly and it got worse.

There's not a problem but if it happens again there will be a problem - for the players.
We had a chat after the game and the players have promised me it won't.

They just said they felt they couldn't do anything right, that nothing came off.
It's a mystery because there were no signs in training leading up to the game.

We quite fancied it before the game when we were favourites, but on the day we didn't perform although over the season we'll be a better team than what they are.
They have beaten us twice so far and we have to accept that.
We play them again tomorrow and we'll have to see what happens."

Although that game (LDV Trophy) is now in doubt because of the continual rain.
A pitch inspection will take place at 9am tomorrow morning to determine whether the game will take place.

Jan finished by saying;

"The best way to lift players is by boosting confidence through playing and winning games.
We have a game again tomorrow and a difficult away match at Shrewsbury on Saturday, so we'll approach those as positively as we can and hopefully get something from them.

Jan Molby is expected to include new signings Parfait Medou-Otye and Neil Mackenzie in the starting line up for tonight's LDV Vans Trophy first round tie against Carlisle United tonight.

Parfait has yet to make a first team appearance although Mackenzie has come on as a substitute in the last two league games against York and Macclesfield.
Jan said:
"If we are to make changes it shouldn't weaken the squad.
If you look at the people we had on the bench on Saturday like Medou-Otye, Mackenzie and Dean Bennett I don't think that would weaken our team if they were to play.

Medou-Otye has got to play at some stage and this is the perfect opportunity."

Ian Bogie will be rested tonight, after suffering from cramp in recent matches.
Also missing will be Paul Webb who is due to have an injection and manipulative treatment tomorrow with the hope of him being able to resume training next Monday.

Tonight is the Harriers debut in the competition which was formerly known at the Auto Windscreens Shield.

"It's one of those competitions that don't really catch alight until you have got to the regional two-legged finals, but from our point of view we are reasonably excited about it.
After all, it's the first time we have ever been in it.
said Jan.

Harriers have reduced the prices for tonight's game to £8 for seats and £6 for terraces (£4 and £3 for concessions respectively and £1 for under 16s on the terraces).

Harriers (from):
Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Hinton, Shail, Smith, Horne, Mackenzie, Ducros, Foster, Durnin, Medou-Otye, Bennett, Hadley, Clarke, Corbett, Davies.

Now that he's grabbing the goals, ex Harrier, Lee Hughes is attracting the attention of the big clubs again.
Newcastle and Liverpool have reportedly declared an interest in the Ginga Ninja and troubled Bryan Robsons Middlesbrough could also decide to follow up last season's interest in the hotshot.

Hughes has a clause in his contract that says he can leave the club if a team table an offer of £5 million and above.
However he has 18 months left on his Albion contract, and given his recent form and the chance of gaining promotion to the Premiership, is unlikely to leave the Baggies in the near future.

Kidderminster Harriers could be set to launch their first ever Independent Supporters Club if ideas go according to plan.

All interested Harriers supporters are being asked to attend an open meeting on Tuesday 12th December (7.30pm) in the Aggborough Suite
It will be chaired initially by the club's Media Manager Steve Thomas.

The idea behind the meeting, requested by a number of fans, will look at forming a committee with a view to developing the club/supporter relationship, fundraising, away travel and a number of other ideas.

Interested supporters can contact Adrian Bloomer in the first instance by email

After the successful treatment that Ian Foster endured to cure his hamstring problem, (his leg was stretched, wrapped round his neck and tied into a granny knot), it is now Paul Webbs turn.

Paul is to undergo a similar treatment on Wednesday in an effort to cure his groin problem.
If this torture, sorry treatment, is successful then Webby should be available for selection next week.

Paul will also be on the panel for Friday night's Fans Forum along with Chairman Lionel Newton and Manager Jan Molby.

The new date for the much cancelled Plymouth game has been arranged for Tuesday January 30th.
The first two scheduled dates were cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.

The new date will probably be snowed off!

"It's just being in the right place at the right time.
That's what it's down to,"

Thats what Adie said about his new found role after scoring another two goals in the 2-1 win against Macclesfield on Saturday.
He hit two goals in a match for the second successive Saturday as the Harriers won three games in a row for the first time this season.

Smith, whose two goals the previous Saturday helped beat York City 3-1 also said;
"I'm enjoying it.
I just play each game as it comes and hopefully get on the scoresheet.
But as long as we win that's the main thing."

Jan Molby said of the on fire midfielder:
"It's very important to have a goalscorer in midfield and Adie will score goals from there because of the way he plays.
He doesn't have a hang-up about how you need to play as a midfield player.
He takes chances, arrives in the penalty area and because of that he will always score goals.

He's done well for us."

But Jan was not so impressed by the rest of the teams performance.

"I think the most positive thing is the three points although it was never a great game.
Probably, if anything, Macclesfield had the better chances.

I don't know what it was. We came out after two good wins and the confidence was there but it looked like we were worried because people expected us to win again and that affected the way we played.
We should have done better.
I expected us to be livelier and sharper, but for whatever reason it never happened. It was the same story right through the 90 minutes.

Apart from the two goals we still created chances.
We had them in the second half but the final little bit wasn't there.

But three wins in a row don't come along that often so we're delighted.
We always thought that our two home games in a row we're winnable, but you still have got to go and do it.
We've done that now and we are happy with the way things are going in the league at the moment."

Harriers chairman, Lionel Newton, has again asked the Harriers stay away fans to return after poor gate figures in recent weeks.

A seasonal low of 2,602 watched the 3-1 win over York seven days ago, while 3,384, of which 1,200 were Burton fans, were at the FA Cup first-round tie a fortnight ago.
And with yesterdays attendance of only 2,638 for the game against Macclesfield this will mean that the Harriers chairman is expected to announce big losses at the AGM next month.

But Mr. Newton will tell supporters that every penny of gate money will be handed to manager Jan Molby for team building.

Yesterdays game with Macclesfield kicked off three successive matches at Aggborough, with Carlisle on Tuesday in the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy and Carlisle again in the second round of the FA Cup next Saturday.
With the Boxing Day visit of Mansfield and four days later the visit of Scunthorpe on December 30th brings the total up to five home games in 29 days.

And if you also include the local derby at Shrewsbury on December 16th then Newton admits that so many matches at such an expensive time of year could hit fans in the pocket.

"The last two gates have been very poor, especially when you consider we are playing teams every week who we have never faced before.
We want people to come and watch us in the cups.

People should not look at it in the manner of 'Oh, they're playing Carlisle at the bottom of the table.'
There is no point just 2,600 people turning up when we play in the second round when we could be playing a Premiership team in the next round.

"Before today we had scored seven goals in our last two games. There is no apathy from the management or the board.
We have backed Jan with three new signings recently. But we need the fans. They are important to the club.

There is no question: If we have a cup run the money will be given to Jan for his budget next year.
We will use any money we make to re-invest in the squad.

We want to be challenging for the Second Division.
Jan Molby doesn't want to end his career at Kidderminster - he is a young manager who is ambitious and wants to build his reputation."

Definitely missing tomorrow for the game at Aggborough against our old Conference rivals, Macclesfield, will be Paul Webb.
Webby has had to visit a specialist today after a reccurance of his groin problem

Also doubtful is Ian Foster with a minor hamstring injury. He will face a late fitness test to see if he can play, but is expected to be.
Others who have picked up slight knocks are Neil Mackenzie (knee), Scott Stamps (groin) and Stewart Hadley (foot).
All should be okay for tomorrow's game.

The other new signing, Parfait Medou Otye, should also make an appearance tomorrow.

Macclesfield are in the middle of a poor run at the moment.
Not having won a league game since 17th October when they beat Torquay at home.

Harriers (from): Brock, Clarkson, Stamps, Hinton, Smith, Horne, Foster, Ducros, Shail, Bogie, Durnin, Hadley, Mackenzie, Bennett, Bird, Medou-Otye, Clarke, Davies, Corbett.