Tomorrow will see the first top quality side to visit Aggborough this season when Grimsby Town turn up in an effort to get some points off us. With the Harriers un-beaten at home so far, with just the one draw, this game promises to be a good barometer of our intentions this season.Grimsby should be there or thereabouts come the end of the season and, although they sit below us in the table at the moment, they probably have the better resources and team to leapfrog us at some point. That won't be the case if they win this game with them being five points behind us but it is going to happen one day.
They signed York City's Dan Parslow to give them some defensive stability but it appears that the could be more in need of strikers with a rash of injuries that will see them without Jon-Paul Pittman (hamstring), Lenell John-Lewis (ankle) and Nathan Arnold they have to rely on Scott Neilson and Ross Hannah as their main threat even though both of these have been injured recently. Expect them to bring in a striker sometime before the game.
Up until a few weeks ago the Mariners had been scoring for fun with a stunning 6-1 win away at Gateshead then the following week they destroyed Alfreton 7-0 at Blundell Park but since that avalanche of goals they have only won once more in five games. Defeats at County rivals Lincoln City and at home to fellow promotion contenders Torquay have knocked them back a bit and they'll arrive at Aggborough in search of a win.
We'll also be hoping for a win as emphatic as that we recorded on Tuesday evening at home to Altrincham. Goals from Michael Gash, Craig Reid, Marvin Johnson and Reece Styche was good to see after fans had been worried all season so far as to where the goals were going to come from. The win was made all the better due to the fact that Alty were no pushover and could have scored a couple themselves.
We were without Jared Hodgkiss that evening after a picked up a knock in training so Jake Green (right) stepped in for his debut and did well. He even ventured upfield late on to unleash a decent shot that had the Altrincham keeper scrabbling across his goal to stop. He looks to have quite a bit of promise.
Callum Gittings could still be missing after it emerged that he had missed the Braintree defeat last Saturday due to a knee injury. He was out with Gavin Crowe on Tuesday evening doing a few exercises but it's doubtful if he'll be risked just yet although we are in dire need of a creative midfielder still. We should, hopefully, have no other injuries. He said!
I have a bad feeling about this game and would be loved to be proved wrong. I just don't feel we are skillful enough to beat the likes of Grimsby. We show flashes of it through Marvin Johnson and Kevin Nicholson but keep resorting to hoofball when we don't really need to. At times our passing on Tuesday was top class but then minutes later the ball would be sent skywards and nobody all that interested in chasing it.
Sort that side of our game out and we could win but I won't hold my breath.
Photo © KHFC
Teams:
Harriers from:
Lewis, Singh, Hodgkiss, Green, Storer, Dunkley, Nicholson, Gowling, Grimes, Byrne, Obeng, Johnson, Verma, Blissett, Gittings, Gash, Reid, Styche.
Grimsby Town from:
McKeown, Bastock, Bignot, Thomas, Brown, Pearson, Magnay, Mackreth, Disley, Hannah, Neilson, Parslow, Doig, John-Lewis, Humble, Clay, Nsiala, Walker, Winfarrah, McLaughlin, Bemrose.
Talk about the game here
Links to Grimsby Town websites here
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