The Harriers paraded their new look side today following the Thursday night fire sale that saw our prize assets, Bevan and Constable, sold to Shrewsbury, Michael Blackwood sent out on a permanent loan to Oxford Utd and Stuart Whitehead to AFC Telford.
Making their debuts for us were Darryl Knights from Yeovil and Matt Bailey from Wolves. Luke Jones and Chris Mackenzie arrived from Shrewsbury as part of the fire sale although Calamity Chris has been here before when he came on here on loan earlier in the season.
Also making his home debut was Alex Jeannin following his debut at Droylsden last week. All apart from Mackenzie are loan signing's of one form or another.
With the fans in a very quiet mood - as if they were willing the team to prove themselves before raising a cheer - the game kicked off with the Harriers looking very purposeful. The new lads seemed to blend in well early on and it was also noticeable that we were actually passing the ball to feet, Mark Creighton included.
Saying we looked good could be a bit of a misnomer because to be honest that's all it was, looking good. There was no real threat from our strikers in front of goal and the tendency to pass it around was still there in the early stages of the game. The first sign of something new from the new boys came from Matt Bailey after he had a couple of quick shots from range that went whizzing over the bar.
Darryl Knights looked to be the most useful of the loanees with some quick runs and excellent passing skills. He looks too good for this level and if possible we should try to procure his services for next season and the same goes for Luke Jones too after he put in a solid showing in midfield.
No change with Mackenzie though. He still fluffs his kicks and has the odd dodgy moment too often for my liking.
As mentioned there wasn't much action with the only items of note coming from a back header from the Vics Michael Welch that his keeper flipped over the bar with amazing agility. Knights had a great shot saved well and they had Cortez Belle booked after he crudely tackled Knights and then threw the ball at him. Russ Penn was lucky not to get booked in the same incident after he lunged in two footed on Belle after he had thrown the ball at Darryl.
The half ended with just a shot on goal from Russ Penn that was deflected off the line by Belle.