Without a game so far this year, due to postponements, the Harriers were beginning to get worried when they would be able to get to play their next game. So far we have seen the original Cheltenham game called off over the New Year then the Braintree game called off twice due to the state of their pitch and the Eastleigh game due to their Cup commitments.We then had the farce of the quickly re-arranged game at Cheltenham after they drew their FA Trophy game at Oxford City and then amazingly we were informed by Cheltenham that the Oxford game would be played on Wednesday by playing their reserve side meaning that our game on the Tuesday could go ahead. As expected the FA stepped in and told Cheltenham that they couldn't play two days in succession and that they would have to call our game off and give preference to the Trophy game. You couldn't make it up and now we have two games to re-arrange.
Thankfully we should be able to get a game at home to Guiseley tomorrow with the Aggborough pitch in fine condition and the weather forecast said to be getting milder but as I write this it's bucketing down with rain so we might be on a heavy pitch tomorrow.
We'll have 'new' signing Keith Lowe in the side for his first game back with us and he'll be up against the team that he played for between 2010 and 2014 under Mark Yates. He completed over one hundred and fifty games for them before leaving for York City.
We could also see the two previous new signings Arthur Gnahoua and Ousmane Fané for the first time since they joined us two weeks ago. Ben Whitfield, on loan from Bournemouth, has also been allowed to stay with us for a further month and hopefully that can be extended again when the time comes.
We also have another new loanee come in this week. Former Harrier Luke Maxwell (left) has joined us on loan from Birmingham City after agreeing to a transfer there two minutes before the loan deal was done. No you're not reading it wrong. We have sold academy graduate Luke to the Blues for £75,000 and they have kindly let him stay with us on loan until the end of the season.
We could also see another player going soon with the rumour that SV Hamburg are interested in signing midfielder Zaine Francis-Angol after he had a trial there two weeks ago. Luckily, or cannily, he has just signed a lengthy contract with us so if this move does happen then we should receive a decent bit of cash for him.
We should have no injuries to be concerned with seeing as we haven't played since the Forest Green defeat on December 28th although defender Tyrone Williams did pick up a slight injury in a friendly game against Aston Villa's youth team the other week. He should be ok for cover though.
We'll also be without Adam Dawson after he went for a groin operation last week and also Jamie Spencer after he returned to Rushall Olympic for a second spell on loan. George Forsyth has also gone out on his first loan deal to Halesowen Town.
Guiseley come to us positioned just outside the drop zone in eighteenth place but seventeen points better off than us right at the bottom. They have also had games called off in recent weeks but managed to get their Trophy game at Dulwich Hamlet played to come back with a win that sees them into the next round away at Dover.
They have no injury problems to report.
Photo © KHFC
Teams:
Harriers from:
Snedker, Brown, Hodgkiss, Rowe-Turner, K Lowe, Millichamp, Langmead, Williams, Fané, Francis-Angol, Gnahoua, Tunnicliffe, Jones, Whitfield, McQuilkin, Maxwell, N'Gwatala, Sweeney, Styche, Barnes-Homer, Singh, Taylor, Patrick.
Guiseley AFC from:
Drench, S Dickinson, D Atkinson, Toulson, Parker, D Lowe, Lockwood, Lawlor, Brooksby, D Boshell, Boyes, Craddock, Rothery, Hall, Hatfield, L Dickinson, Johnson, N Boshell, Porritt, Thompson, R Atkinson, Smith, Dudley, Norburn, Hurst.
Talk about the game here
Links to Guiseley AFC websites here
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