Grimsby was the scene of an amazing game in this seasons FA Cup that saw the Harriers defy the odds, and their form at the time, by roaring into a 3-0 lead within the first twenty minutes and then saw the hosts recover to pull two goals back before the break. We were holding tight to the now narrow lead just trying to keep Grimsby from scoring an equaliser. Amazingly with Grimsby in the midst of a full scale, last gasp onslaught on our goal with their keeper up there as well, the ball broke free.
From the match report of the game:
Calmly Marvin collected the ball and advanced upon the empty net, much to the mirth and delight of the Harriers faithful and to the astonishment of the exiting fishy folk.
Now wouldn't it be brilliant if we could repeat that result tomorrow. If we did then it would increase our chance of being in the play-offs with a win like that and would put to bed the recent fears that our results of the past weeks have been lucky. That seemed to be confirmed at Gateshead/York on Tuesday evening when we lost 2-0 in our first defeat in a long time.
That defeat in fogbound York was un-expected and more so for the lethargic display than the inability to see where the ball was. In hindsight the game should never have been played.
One bright spot at York was the introduction of new signing Michael Gash. He came on at the start of the second half to replace Greg Pearson - who will not be allowed by his club to play against them tomorrow - and seemed to give us a good aerial threat. Hopefully he knows his team mates better now and can show us what he can achieve a little better.
We should be more or less free from injuries with Keith Briggs possibly still out after apparently being bought back to early from injury against Ebbsfleet and paying the price of missing out against Gateshead. At least Danny Jackman came back for that game and I see Danny as a more creative option that Briggsy.
Grimsby will be without Derek Niven with a groin injury that will see him missing for up to seven weeks. That injury was picked up in their 1-0 win at Forest Green on Tuesday, a win that see's FGR's chances of a play off place slipping away.
The scorer of the goal in that game was defender Tom Naylor who joined the fishy people on loan from Derby and he replaced defender Shaun Pearson who is out with a knee injury. Naylor should continue in that rôle. Liam Hearn is back in training after a long term achilles injury but will not be risked.
The club and KHIST are running cheap coaches to this game so we should see a very good following at Blundell Park hoping to see a repeat of that FA Cup game result. A win at Grimsby would really put the cat among the pigeons.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Lewis, N Vaughan, L Vaughan, Williams, Dunkley, Demetriou, Gowling, Shakes, Storer, Vincent, Jackman, Briggs, Pilkington, Guinan, Johnson, Malbon, Gittings, Gash, Devaney, Jarvis, Rowe.
Grimsby Town from:
Fleming, McKeown, Croudson, Hatton, Thomas, Miller, Colbeck, Disley, Artus, Cook, Brodie, Devitt, Wood, Southwell, Thanoj, Morrall, Hannah, Marshall, John-Lewis, Naylor.
Talk about the game here
Links to Grimsby Town websites here
Find Pubs around Kidderminster here
Find Hotels around Kidderminster here
