Just three wins, Oxford, Stevenage and Rushden last Saturday, in the last ten games does not exactly bode for a barnstorming finish. Anyway Yatesey wants it and this is what he told the official website yesterday following the win at Nene Park:
"If we aren't going to finish in the top five then I want to finish sixth! - Or as close to that as we can get. We always want to keep going forward and we want to finish the season well; I wanted five wins before today - this is one of them and now we've got four big league games to go until a big day at the Trophy Final.
I want four more games where we perform."
We had no injuries following the Rushden game but we will be without Russell Penn for the next three games after he contrived to get himself booked for the fifteenth time this season against Woking last Monday. By getting that booking it means he's now free to play at Wembley.
The worrying one now is Stuart Whitehead because he's on his ninth booking and needs a tenth one tomorrow to guarantee playing at Wembley. It's no good getting booked against Morecambe this coming Saturday because his two game ban wouldn't start until our final game of the season at Crawley the following weekend.
Glenn Wilson should return to the side after being forced to stand down against Rushden as part of the loan deal that bought him here. Jon Brady will probably continue to keep out Simon Russell, who didn't even make it onto the pitch on Saturday. Personally I'd get Russell back in the side as soon as possible because Brady offers absolutely nothing and has not been the success that he thinks he should be.
Aldershot are like us, have given up on the play-offs and will want to finish as high as possible. They'll have to do it without the man who scored a stunning hat trick against us at their place earlier in the season. Marcus Gayle got injured in a County game in February and hasn't played since.
They will also be without defender Andy Edwards who remains out for the rest of the season recovering from a broken leg and also have Darren Barnard waiting to go into hospital for an operation.
They also have a couple of players with minor injuries but they will be facing a pre match examination to see if they'll be fit to play.
We all know that this game has got 'end of season' written large all over it and so did Saturday's game at Rushden. We won that one without breaking sweat - can we do the same again tomorrow?
Teams:
Harriers from:
Bevan, S Taylor, Harkness, Kenna, Haworth, Creighton, Whitehead, McGrath, Sedgemore, Hurren, Russell, Reynolds, Blackwood, McGhee, Smikle, Christie, Constable, Hay, Eaton, Brady, Wilson.
Aldershot from:
Bull, Wells, Smith, Barnard, Newman, Day, Molesey, Grant, Williams, Soares, Scott, Pritchard, Hudson, Anderson, Winfield, Salmon, Milletti, Charles, Hylton, Beckford, Dixon.