There's just one fly in the ointment though and that's that bloody pitch.
Over the festive period that was our downfall and going by photo's taken of the pitch yesterday, HERE, there doesn't seem to have been much of an improvement. The pitch has been covered in an attempt to keep it free from frost and, hopefully, encourage some grass to grow but it's the wrong time of the year for that now and the playing surface remains as more soil than grass. We just have to hope there will be no rain on it between now and three o'clock tomorrow. We also have to hope that Worcester City can have similar conditions for their game on Sunday because we don't want it made any worse than it needs to be.
We'll be hoping for some kind of solution to our central defensive quandary for this game with Josh Gowling out injured and two defenders, Jordan Tunnicliffe and Ty Williams, both cup-tied. There have been suggestions of Kevin Nicholson going there with Jake Green taking over at left back Kyle Storer teaming up with Jamie Grimes. I have a feeling that we might be seeing an emergency loan coming in before this evening.
Elsewhere Aman Verma is doubtful after missing the win at Dartford last Sunday. He was missing for the home game against Southport then returned for the FGR game a few days later but his back injury became aggravated and he wasn't risked for the trip down to Kent so he may not be risked again.
We should have new signing Keyon Reffell available for us if his international clearance comes through. He has been training with the side but it seems when it comes to getting Welsh players registered for an English club it can take forever but when a Welsh side want a red card overturned then it takes ages. Five minutes in some cases.
We met up with Altrincham at theirs a few weeks ago and lost in the second half after taking a lead just after the break through, who else, but Marvin Johnson. In the league game played at Aggborough earlier in the season we racked up four goals against them with no reply but since our defeat in November they have been on a run of good form and at the moment sit in eighth place in the form table, just two behind us.
They have couple of injury problems with the main one being an Achilles injury to Peter Cavanagh but for the others it's nothing more than aches and pains so they should be at almost full strength for the game.
With our FA Cup season ended at the first hurdle and the real chance of finishing top of the league gone we have just the play-offs and the Trophy to look forward to. We have to make a concerted effort to get as far as we can in both campaigns and that concerted effort starts tomorrow. If we fail in this it could mean hard times financially for the club.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Lewis, Mayebi, Singh, Hodgkiss, Green, Storer, Nicholson, O'Keefe, Kelly, Grimes, Maxwell, Asante, Byrne, Obeng, Digie, Johnson, Verma, Gittings, Reffell, Spencer, Reid, Hales.
Altrincham from:
Coburn, Parton, Samberg, Densmore, Griffin, Moult, Havern, Leather, Lawrie, Richman, Gillespie, Reeves, Clee, Perry, Marshall, S Williams, Crowther, Swift, King, Gilroy, Brown, Cavanagh.
STOP PRESS: The club have signed Birmingham City youngster Nathaniel Kelly on a months loan today. He has come in to cover our defensive problem mentioned earlier and will feature tomorrow.
Talk about the game here
Links to Altrincham websites here
Find Pubs around Kidderminster here
Find Hotels around Kidderminster here
