At such short notice it looks like there will be a recall to the side for Nathan Blissett. He lost his place to Jamma when the big man made a sudden return to the club just prior to our game at Telford in November and, to be honest, it showed just how much he needed to improve if he hoped to step into Jamilles boots one day. That day came sooner than anyone, including Nathan, thought it ever would.
This game could be a hard one for the youngster to come back in following Mansfields epic, but ultimate betrayal, in the FA Cup last week when Liverpool clinched the tie with a goal from Louis Suarez that divided opinion in the football world on it's validity and honesty. Personally I think it was a blatant handball and a decent referee would have sent Suarez off. We have seen such incidents heavily punished in the non league game (Michael Briscoe at Ebbsfleet?) but Premiership prima donna referees have different principles.
We could also be without Keith Briggs and Cheyenne Dunkley for the game. Both picked up injuries in training this week but Chey looks the more likely to come through with just a slight groin strain while Briggs has a leg injury.
Marvin Johnson returned to the side against Barrow last week and should have come through that outing without a problem but it may still be too early for Dan Pilkington to come back from his injury. Kyle Storer missed the Barrow game too but he should have got over his minor knock by now.
It appears that Mansfield came through the Liverpool game unscathed and should be at full strength, apart from two long term injuries to Ross Dyer (knee) and Ryan Tafazolli, for our visit including the scrote called Exerdus Geegan. It was Geohaghon that seemed to gift the game to Mansfield at the start of the season after signing for us, from them, a few weeks earlier.
He had arrived at Aggborough being hailed as a massive signing by Steve Burr and immediately given the captaincy. It was to be one of Burrs biggest, of very few, mistakes and one that he came to regret when Geohaghon sneaked back to Mansfield days after that defeat to be welcomed back to Field Mill as a prodigal returned.
It was a blessing in disguise really because soon after we bought a proper footballer in to replace him. Two in fact, when Josh Gowling came in to partner Cheyenne Dunkley and improved the youngsters game no end to make them one of the best defensive partnerships in the league.
Also at Mansfield are two other former Harriers but these are the genuine article. Luke Jones and Nick Wright both went there during the 'summer' but neither can get a regular start for their new club. Nick even tweeted recently 'get me back to Kiddy' but that was seen to be a bit tongue in cheek. It'll be interesting to see if either of them get to start against us.
There's no doubt that this is going to be a tough game made tougher by Matts departure but I'm sure that with our recent form and the camaraderie in the side that we can get our usual good result there.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Lewis, N Vaughan, L Vaughan, Williams, Dunkley, Smith, Demetriou, Gowling, Shakes, Storer, Vincent, Briggs, D Pilkington, Guinan, Johnson, Malbon, Clancy, Gittings, Rowe, Blissett.
Mansfield Town from:
Marriott, Redmond, Sutton, Thompson, Dempster, Jones, G Pilkington, Meikle, Speight, Green, Briscoe, Wright, Howell, Clements, Owens, Rhead, Beevers, Roberts, Hand, Tolley, Murray, Todd, Hutchinson, Stevenson, Somes, Holland, Rogers, Shaw, Daniel, Geohaghon.
Talk about the game here
Links to Mansfield Town websites here
Find Pubs around Kidderminster here
Find Hotels around Kidderminster here
