Match preview Vs Alfreton Town

These match previews are beginning to sound a bit monotonous with the same plea being repeated over and over again but here goes yet again.

The Harriers will be travelling to Mansfield Alfreton tomorrow looking for their first win of the season.  Their first in ten games.  Yes, we're now ten games into the season and that's when the table starts to level out and clubs at the top can start to create a gap between the also-rans while those at the bottom begin to find in harder by the minute to drag themselves out of the depths to which they have slumped.

That's us in a nutshell.  No way did we, or anyone else come to that, expect to see the mighty Harriers down there amongst the deadmen.  The Harriers seem to becoming 'mighty' no longer.

Last season we did the double over newly promoted Alfreton and in the corresponding game, a 2-0 win, Anthony Malbon (left) came on for his debut during the second half and scored an emotional opening goal.  We had struggled to break through the dour home defence up till that point but once the lead had been gained Alfreton crumbled and Jamille Matt ended the game with a last minute goal to send the two hundred Harriers fans home happy.

It was a season of consolidation for the new boys as they finished in fifteenth place and so far they're repeating that again with them presently in sixteenth place but I expect them to finish higher following some decent results in the first part of this season so far.  Two away wins at Barrow and Lincoln, both tough asks, was followed up with a 3-0 demolition of Luton Town at home a couple of weeks ago.  They do show signs of inconsistency though with big defeats at home to Nuneaton and, er, Hereford.

It's up to us to capitalise on that inconsistency and get our season up and running at last (is it Groundhog Day again?)  At least we're making an effort with our four consecutive draws following five consecutive defeats.  We can either go one better or one worse.

We have no new injury problems following that dire performance at home to Grimsby last Saturday but that might be because no one really put that much effort in to get injured.  Kyle Storer, Tom Sharpe and Jack Byrne remain as our long term injured but we might see a change, again, to the starting line up with Ricky Shakes beginning the game at the expense of either Danny Pilkington or Marvin Johnson.  I can see no other changes on the horizon.

Alfreton are comparably injury free with the only doubts being Darran Kempson and Paul Clayton after they missed their draw at FGR last weekend, a draw that saw them salvage a late point through a Dan Bradley penalty, his second in two games.  Bradley left us for a tiny fee at the end of last season after he demanded a guaranteed start in every game but Steve Burr refused to give him that pledge.  He had left Tamworth for the same reason but it seems to have worked this time because he's started every game so far this term.

Simon Russell is at Alfreton too.  Nuff said :)

So, will this be the day that we get our first three points or will it be yet another draw?  God forbid we lose the game, the outpouring of venom could be messy.




Harriers from:
Lewis, N Vaughan, L Vaughan, Williams, Dunkley, Austin, Demetriou, Gowling, Shakes, Panther, Vincent, Briggs, Pilkington, Guinan, Johnson, Malbon, Peniket, Gittings, Rowe, Blissett.

Alfreton Town from:
Stewart, Barnes, Franklin, Kempson, Tomlinson, Wilson, Streete, Russell, Taylor, Worsfold, Quinn, Arnold, Bradley, Franks, Brown, Clayton, Law, Meadows.

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