The club were thankfully saved by their fans and a huge campaign eventually removed Mr Haslam from the club and saved them from a fate plaguing many clubs nowadays - a twenty point deduction.Sadly it couldn't save them from joining us in the BSP though and they fell through the trapdoor along with Wrexham last season. With the majority of their squad being sold or leaving to trim the costs further Mansfield had to start recruiting again for, this, their first time ever in non-league football
Many of these comings and goings have a Harriers connection with the first two coming during close season. Former Harriers Johnny Mullins and Simon Brown both left the club for Stockport and Wrexham respectively and then the opposite happened with other Harriers players joining the Field Mill side. The first to sign was Michael Blackwood early on then just before the season was about to start Gavin 'Trigger' Hurren and Alex Jeannin signed for them. Not far behind was a name from the Allner years when a former Harriers youth player - Anthony Robinson - surfaced to sign for them after originally agreeing to join Worcester City. You've got to laugh really.
They've started their BSP campaign slightly better than we have with a draw at Ebbsfleet and a win at home to Histon on Tuesday night. We have just the one point following a disappointing draw at home to newly promoted Lewes and an equally disappointing defeat at Cambridge in midweek.
We've had no real injury updates since that bruising game so it's not known yet wether Russ Penn will be playing after getting some rough treatment at the end of the game from Paul Carden. Lee Baker missed the game after picking up a knock to his knee against Lewes but, after treatment back at West Brom, he should be ready for Mansfield.
The injury situation at Field Mill is not known yet.
This is going to be like the olden days going up the M42/M1 to Mansfield. We got the occasional good result there and I think it'll be this Saturday that we kick our season off. It'd be good to get a resounding win but I think it'll be closer than that with a 1-0 win or a hard earned draw.
Photo © Harriers Online
Teams:
Harriers from:
Bartlett, Coleman, Baker, Riley, Bignot, Ferrell, Creighton, Bowler, Jones, Foley, Knights, McDermott, Bennett, McGrath, Brittain, Russell, Penn, Barnes-Homer, Smikle, Richards.
Mansfield from:
Gamble, White, Herriott, Kitchen, Silk, D'Laryea, Moses, O'Hare, Arnold, Somner, Stallard, Lee, Blackwood, Wood, Shaw, Goward, McGhee, Hurren, Jeannin, O'Connor, Burrell, Trimmer, Robinson.
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