The creative midfielder has really come into his own under Burr and in recent games has shown just how skillful at passing and spotting a pass he can be. Up until his exit the other night we were displaying some quality football that had Ebbsfleet on the back foot and ripe for the taking but once he went off we seemed to lose that momentum and reverted to more hoofing than passing.
Luckily resting him for this game will give John time to recover for the big double header Trophy games against Stevenage the following couple of weekends.
Apart from Finners and Dean Coleman (groin) we should have a full squad for the game. James Lawrie will be back from his goal scoring escapades in San Marino with the Northern Ireland U21 side and it'll be interesting to see if either he or the other new striker, Adam Boyes, start together or one of them with Robbie Matthews.
Boyes came on late in the second half on Tuesday in place of Matthews but personally I would have liked to have seen them tried together first to see if a possible strike partnership is there. Seems like Steve Burr is concentrating on finding a strike partner for Darryl Knights instead.
Jack Byrne has now also signed for the Harriers following interest shown in him this week by us. He'll also be in the squad tomorrow.
Eastbourne went through a Jekyll and Hyde experience last week when they travelled to York City, unbeaten at home all season, and ran out 1-0 winners. On Tuesday they entertained our Trophy opponents Stevenage and got walloped 6-0 in a second half disaster.
We should feel capable of inflicting a similar kind of scoreline on them but things never work out that clear cut and we'll be lucky to score three.
Injuries and other team news is unknown down there and we'll just be hoping to avenge that early season home defeat at Aggborough at the start of September in a poor game for us compared to what we are serving up now. I think we can do that.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Singh, Atkins, L Baker, Riley, Bignot, Courtney, Sharpe, Knights, Hadley, McPhee, Bennett, Hayward, Caines, Smikle, Lawrie, Goodfellow, Byrne, Boyes, Matthews.
Eastbourne from:
Walker, Knowles, Lightwood, Opinel, D Baker, Jenkins, Smart, Austin, Pullan, Armstrong, Atkin, Enver-Marum, M Crabb, Johnson, Weatherstone, N Crabb, Rowe, Taylor, Treleaven, Hurley, Fraser, Benjamin, Elphick, Brown.
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