Harriers face Cambridge Utd this Saturday for the first time since God knows when.  I know Utd played in the Southern League before 1970 but I'm not sure if we ever met them in competition.

Anyway, it was in 1970 that Utd gained promotion to the league (Div 4) waving goodbye to the legendary Bradford Park Avenue on the way.  By 1978 they had got themselves promoted to the 2nd Division where they were to stay for the next 6 years.  They dropped straight back down to the 4th in consecutive relegations.

In 1989/90 they reached the last eight of the F.A. Cup before being narrowly defeated by eventual finalists, Crystal Palace.  They've failed to set the world afire since then.

Their only other claim to fame is they were the first club of Dion Dublin, later to be found banging goals in for Man Utd and Coventry.
But not the Villa.

Since their relegation last season they seem to have found their feet in this league and are amongst the highest scorers in the division.  Dave Kitson is actually the second highest, after Andy Morrell of Wrexham, with 9 goals at an average rate of a goal every 1.67 games.  Compare that to our own Bo Henriksen with 6 goals at an average rate of a goal every 2.33 games.

They also have a lad on loan from West Ham, Omer Riza, who looks handy in front of goal.

These figures are available from a new addition to the site.  Click on the 'head2head' link at the bottom of the page for more stats.

During the week they hammered Rushden 4-0 in the LDV, nice, and according to reports they could have run into double figures.

They have a few injuries but most of the first team regulars are fit.


We will probably be missing Scott Stamps again after he missed the win at Dagenham on Tuesday with a back injury, there is also a new worry with Adie Smith who has a slight hamstring strain.

Abdou Sall is back in training so his ankle must be getting better and Inderpaul Khela has joined Evesham on loan to get some match practice.

The game tomorrow should be an exciting one to watch.  Two attacking sides and three points to us means that we could be near the top of the table.

Ian Britton had this to say:
"Cambridge are just below us and can score goals.  We don't concede many so it should make for an interesting game.

It's an important match no matter who we are playing because we are at home and we need to make up for Macclesfield.  The lads have responded well after that game and gone about their job in the right way.  They have got their just rewards.

We have played well at times at home but have not taken our chances."

Teams

Harriers from:
Brock, Danby, Joy, Stamps, Melligan, Ayres, Smith, Hinton, Williams, Parrish, Sall, Flynn, Bennett, Shilton, Ducros, Doyle, Foster, Broughton, Henriksen, Lower, Lewis.

Cambridge from:
Brennan, Marshall, Goodhind, Tann, Angus, Nacca, Rush, Huggins, Bourgeois, Bridges, Tudor, Guttridge, Wanless, Scully, Fleming, Alcide, Chillingworth, Kitson, One, Paynter.