Following the hard fought draw at Forest Green we'll be hoping to go one better and win this one and also stop Oxford gaining their first double of the season against us. They came to Aggborough a little over a month ago and ran out 2-0 winners in a bad tempered game made worse by incompetent refereeing after James Constable was sent off for an offence that he didn't commit.
Oxford had Carl Pettefer sent off too but that one was probably deserved after he went in over the top on Michael McGrath.
Oxfords management have warned their players not to retaliate if the Harriers players want to take revenge. Good example of branding players as thugs without saying as much then!.
From the Oxford Mail:
Oxford United's management may just have had an eye on protecting teenager James Clarke against Kidderminster tomorrow because of what happened on his debut.
The young right back crashed to the ground after a collision with Harriers striker James Constable in the league game at Aggborough on November 24, which United won 2-0 and the referee sent off Constable, to the fury of home fans, but video replays showed he did nothing wrong.
Some Kidderminster fans have heavily criticised Clarke's role in the incident, but again TV replays showed he, too, was blameless. Nevertheless, there was a lot of ill-feeling between the two teams, and boss Darren Patterson may just have been thinking about this when he put him on the bench against Crawley on Boxing Day and it would be no surprise if he was again left out of the starting line-up tomorrow, just in case there is any 'spill-over' from the first game.
Against Crawley they scored their first goal since the 3-3 draw with Torquay United on October 11th, and it also gave them their first home league win since they beat Salisbury City 2-1 on September 25th, three months ago.
They'll have to be without Luke Foster after he picked up his fifth booking against Aldershot the previous week and there are doubts about the fitness of Danny Rose who is struggling with a hamstring problem.
We'll be without Stuart Whitehead as he'll be serving the final day of his two match ban but we have no injury worries to speak of. Jeff Kenna might start tomorrow after a less than impressive performance from Paul Bignot at FGR on Wednesday. He was exposed on countless occasions and his poor marking led to the Forest Green first goal.
This is going to be a hard game but I think we can get a draw at the very least. Oxfords poor form and our great display on Boxing Day put the omens in our favour.
If we can cut out the defensive errors then there is no reason why we can't come back with something.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Bevan, Coleman, Harkness, Kenna, Bignot, Creighton, Munday, McGrath, Ferrell, Hurren, Russell, Penn, Richards, Blackwood, Barnes-Homer, Smikle, Christie, Constable.
Oxford Utd from:
Turley, Warrell, Weedon, Collins, Anaclet, Posey, Corcoran, Quinn, Willmott, Ledgister, Gilchrist, Pettefer, Hutchinson, Odubade, Rose, Trainer, Jeannin, Day, Twigg, Green, Duffy, Taylor, Clarke, Fisher, Benjamin, Barnes.
Links to Oxford Utd websites 
