Fleetwood, a fishing port North of Blackpool, are undergoing quite a revolution at the moment with massive amounts of money being poured into the club by a rich business man that wants to get the club into the Football League within a few years. Whether the local economy and a small fanbase could help him achieve that is debatable but let's not forget that this was the same route that the much maligned Rushden & Diamonds took all those years ago with the Max Grigg's millions and it seemed to work for them to some extent.
They're managed by Mickey Mellon, a former Kidderminster Harrier player, and he has moulded a good side by bringing in some excellent signings. One of those is Gareth Seddon who signed for them from Kettering and reputably from under our noses after we had been rumoured to be signing him in the August transfer deadline.
Another well known player for them is Alan Wright. He began his career at Blackpool before spending four years at Blackburn and then moving on to Aston Villa for £1,000,000 in the summer of 1995.
Fleetwood made it this far by beating Vauxhall 3-2 in the previous round, a team that we have played quite recently and done well against. Last season we travelled to an equally foreboding tie at Kings Lynn and everyone was expecting a hard passage through. In the end we ran out easy 5-1 winners and if we ignore the fact that Fleetwood are of a similar status then we should be able to make our way through based on that experience.
We'll be without Robbie Matthews for the game as he serves the second game of his debatable three match ban. If this game tomorrow is drawn he will also miss the replay but will then be eligible for the Cambridge Utd game next Saturday.
Chris McPhee is still doubtful after the ankle injury he received against Luton Town on the same day that Matthews got his marching orders but David McDermott is definitely back in the side after his 100mph subs display against Crawley last Saturday.
No doubt the Harriers board are hoping that this could be the first step on the way to another successful FA Cup run. They'll want it for the money but the fans will want it for the possible excitement that the FA Cup brings to lower league sides.
Nothing better than a good cup run the get the adrenaline flowing.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Coleman, Singh, Baker, Riley, Courtney, Sharpe, Farrell, Finnigan, Knights, Hadley, McDermott, McPhee, Bennett, Hayward, Caines, Costello, Barnes-Homer, Smikle, Dolman.
Fleetwood from:
Hurst, Grundy, Beeley, Wooliscroft, Wright, Hills, McNulty, Taylor, Clancy, Bond, Milligan, McGuire, Mullan, Dodgson, Connors, Warlow, Jorgensen, Bell, Wilde, Seddon, Cahill.
Links to Fleetwood Town websites here
Directions to Kidderminster
here
Find Pubs around Kidderminster here
Find Hotels around Kidderminster here
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