We had been playing so well, drawn level through Callum Hassan then took the lead through new loan signing Ben Whitfield and up until the ninetieth minute thought we had done enough but the Altrincham had a magician on their side and he produced a five minute rabbit from his hat. They took advantage, we panicked and they scored.
It was so close, but gutting, and we now have another chance to get that elusive three points with the visit of another struggling side, Southport, tomorrow. They took the lead at home to Chester on Tuesday and had us Harriers fans worrying for a while with us losing too but thankfully Sir Steven of Burr remembered his old buddies and told Chester to sort it. They did so and won the game 2-1 to dump Southport into twenty second place and three points above us. A win for us could see us leapfrog them by nightfall.
They could be without Paul Rutherford with an ankle injury but otherwise seem to be injury free.
Playing for them now is Andy Bishop. He surprisingly left also struggling Halifax a few weeks ago having originally joined them from Wrexham during the close season. Luck might have it and he'll get himself sent off again seeing that's what normally happens when he plays against his old mates.
In a real effort to get our season underway the club have begun a clearout of the under performing players in the squad. Many of those in that bracket are the more experienced players such as Joe Clarke and he has now gone out on loan for the remainder of the season to Brackley Town. Is he the only one or will there be others?
We have a few injuries that hopefully will start to get cleared up. Gurjit Singh, Jordan Jones, Kevin Toner and Tahvon Campbell have all missed out recently (we don't talk about Rob Taylor) and at least two of those should be back in contention for the Southport game. For Toner it will be the last game of his loan spell with us from the Villa so he'll want to have one last fling.
Four of our latest additions played at Altrincham with two of them scoring, Hassan and Whitfield, the other two Joe Ward and Zaine Francis-Angol had quiet games but should still figure highly in new head coach Dave Hockadays plans. If the injured lads do return then Dave could have a bit of juggling to do.
Yes folks. I'm forecasting a win for this one and if we don't then the future could be unthinkable.
Stop Press (again): We have bought yet another new player in today. Defender Matt Young, recently released by Dover.
Teams:
Harriers from:
Palmer, Snedker, Hodgkiss, Rowe-Turner, Young, Millichamp, Francis-Angol, Toner, Green, Whitfield, J Jones, Maxwell, Ward, Cater, Forsyth, Langmead, Tunnicliffe, Taylor, Murphy, Verma, Sweeney, Styche, Campbell, Dinsley, Singh, Hassan.
Southport from:
Coughlin, Viscosi, Challoner, Foster, Almond, Joyce, Rutherford, Phenix, Bishop, Beesley, McCarthy, Blakeman, A Jones, Wright, G Jones, Stockton, Preston, Cameron, Davies, Nolan, Thompson.
Talk about the game here
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