harriers-online match preview
6th May 2005  
HOME
Northampton Town
At Sixfields
Saturday
7/5/05    3:00pm
With the club in turmoil following our relegation we now have squabbling in the boardroom to contend with.  We all knew something was going on behind the scenes between CYJ and Lionel but we never expected rumours of takeovers by dodgy characters from down Sarf.

It's too early to come to any kind of conclusion about these shadowy men just yet but at the moment it does not seem that they will be having the best interests of the club at heart.  News is so scarce that most of the talk going round the message boards is just supposition and worry and until we know more then it would be wrong to come to any kind of conclusion.

Suffice it to say but at the moment I'm saying nothing.

Now onto the game, our last game in the Football League for what may be a long, long time.

To start with we've got one less injury to worry about now that Reuben Hazell has decided that relegation is not for him.  He wants to play his football at an higher level than the Conference so has decided to take the money and run.  See him at a Forest Green type club near you soon along with Jamie Gleeson who also realised that he was worthy of better times than this.

That just leaves us with Ian Foster and Johnny Mullins that are definitely out although that may well not be the case because I feel that Johnny might be on the bench at Sixfields to say his farewells to the club and fans that he has come to love during his time here.

If you missed it then you'll find the Q&A with Mr Mullins here.

Adam Chambers will probably play in his last game for us in the place vacated by Johnny and that would be a shame because in his first appearance for us last week he did enough to convince many Harriers fans that he was a quality player that could do a good job for us, but maybe not in the Conference.

I also don't expect to see Tom Bennett either after he missed the previous game through 'injury' but I think that was just a euphemism for wanting to go back to Scotland and not fight for a place next season.


Northampton, unlike us, are on the verge of better things now that they're starting to put a run together just in time to clinch a play-off place.  Most of this good run is down to just the one player, Andy Kirk.

He signed for them for a sizeable fee, for a L2 club that is, from Boston Utd on Deadline Day and is now knocking 'em in left, right and centre.  Just as he did when Boston beat us 4-0 in one of our worst ever defeats some months ago now.  We're going to have to be on our metal to stop him from scoring against us tomorrow and somehow I don't think we'll be able to.

I can see a repeat of the Wycombe/Tyson scenario on the horizon.

The Cobblers have a few men missing for the game with, according to the Northampton Official website, Tommy Jaszczun out for the remainder of the season.  Sound like someone's either lost track of time there or think they're certain to go into the play-offs.  Either way he won't play against us and neither will Ashley Westwood.

He's had a medial ligaments injury and the quacks are also going to have a look at his cruciate knee injury at the same time.  Sounds crocked to me.

The other doubt is Marc Richards.  He's on his way back from a broken leg and has made some last minute appearances in recent games and might do the same again tomorrow.


So will we go out with a bang or another whimper?  We all thought that they would make a good fist of it against Grimsby and they didn't.  Why should they bother now?

Fact is we're just not good enough and at Northampton we'll be lucky to get away with a rugby score.  By rights it should be a cricket score.

Teams

Harriers from:
Danby, Lewis, Burton, Mullins, Chambers, Jones, Sall, Weaver, Jackson, Bennett, Hatswell, McHale, Beardsley, McGrath, Jenkins, Keates, Cozic, Sturrock, Birch, Christie, Rawle, Russell.

Northampton from:
Harper. Bunn, Chambers, Willmott, Murray, Hunt, Kirk, Richards, Low, McGleish, Rowson, Hearn, Sabin, Smith, Bojic, Galbraith, Hicks, Williamson, Togwell.
Previous games against Northampton
Harriers score first
Home
Away
2004 - 05
0 - 2
 
2003 - 04
2 - 1
1 - 0
2002 - 03
None
None
2001 - 02
None
None
2000 - 01
None
None


links to some
northampton websites:

official site
the hotel end
click below
to select your
head2head

Site © 1999- Harriers-Online.co.uk - all rights reserved  
This site is 100% unofficial and in no way represents the views of Kidderminster Harriers FC