For me I was looking forward to the opening game of the season at Lincoln but what I saw made me worry for our season. Negative football from two sides that, in our case, then went on to last all season. There was only one real highlight and that was the game at Bristol Rovers where we controlled the game with some nice football until Rovers turned on the pressure to grab the draw. We also had a great weekend away in the city so those two combined made it memorable. Sadly from that game onwards we spiralled down into mundane mediocrity.
I suppose some fans might consider last Tuesdays Worcester Senior Cup victory as the highlight but not I. Sorry.
Eastleigh fans on the other hand have had a whole season to live in their memories and to tell their grandchildren about. Tomorrow it might get even more legendary unless we can somehow spoil their play off party.
Since they gained promotion to the Conference, for the first time in their short history last season, they have always been above halfway up the table and usually higher. Under Richard Hill, and Rich Backers, they have confounded the odds by bringing in top class players for this level with Jai Reason, Jack Midson and James Constable up front while elsewhere Dean Beckwith, Ben Strevens and Brian Howard have all played at a much higher level.
Now they stand on the verge of possible promotion if they can win tomorrow. A win for the Harriers combined with Macclesfield winning at Torquay and Forest Green winning at home to Dover could put a spanner in the works though. They'll have to do it without two of the team. Left back Michael Green will be out with a hamstring injury while midfielder Paul Reid is out with a broken rib picked up against Alfreton two weeks ago.
We'll be going into the game with nothing to play for apart from keeping the score down to a reasonable level. The Harriers manager, Gary Whild, has said that we can relax now and play with a freedom that will allow us to express ourselves. It's a pity that we didn't do that for the previous forty five games.
We'll be without the two long termers, Aman Verma and James Fry once more. Verma broke a bone in his foot at Telford but on Tuesday evening seemed to be walking around ok while Fry came on the pitch on crutches at the end of Saturdays draw at home to Barnet.
Don't forget that this game has a late kick off in the early evening so I can't say by five fifteen o'clock tomorrow the season will be over. It will be for us at seven o'clock but maybe not for Eastleigh.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Lewis, Singh, Whitcombe, Hodgkiss, J Green, Forsyth, Nicholson, Kelly, Sweeney, O'Keefe, Grimes, Millichamp, Maxwell, Asante, Byrne, Obeng, Harrison, Digie, Boyle, Gittings, Hughes, Reffell, Wright, Spencer, C Reid.
Eastleigh from:
Flitney, Noice, Helm, Spence, M Green, Beckwith, Todd, Stanley, Constable, Reason, McAllister, Midson, Strevens, Smith, Evans, Weeks, Howard, Lee, Heidari, Turley, Partington, Pell, Walker, Burton.
Talk about the game here
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