Match preview Vs Boston Utd

It's a long time since we've had the 'pleasure' of playing Boston Utd.  The last meetings between the two clubs were in our better days when we were in the Coca Cola League in 2005 but that wasn't a good time to be a Harriers fan with a 3-0 defeat at York Street following a 4-0 home defeat earlier in the season.  We did beat them a few months later though when we went there for a LDV Trophy game and came away 3-0 winners.

Hopefully in these more modern times we won't be seeing that level of defeat again.

Boston dropped a long way down when they exited the League in 2007 after financial regulations took effect on the last day of the season and they were effectively demoted two divisions to the Conference North for one season but then relegated again to the Northern Premier following more financial mis-management.  They were also the club at the centre of the famous Steve Evans 'brown paper bag' scam with players being registered after being handed one of the bags stashed full of cash.

Now, after nine years, they seem to have consolidated their ambitions at the Conference Premier level after gaining promotion back at the first attempt.  This season, so far, they have struggled and sit in eighteenth place with one home win (against Tamworth) to their credit but three away defeats.  The only other home game was a loss by one goal to Stalybridge Celtic, our opponents last Saturday.

It was last Saturday that we managed to scrape our first home win of the campaign and scrape could be the right word to use after we stormed into a comfortable first half lead then tried our best to chuck it all away in the second period by letting Celtic dictate the game, score, and then get a player sent off near to the end of the game.  That dismissal was to Ashley Carter following a senseless head butt on a Celtic man and earned the defender a three match ban.

Yesterday we saw another fringe player sent out on loan.  George Forsyth has joined up with Yate Town for a month and will be travelling down with keeper Jono Brown after he joined Yate on loan last week.  Forsyth joins Nathan Millichamp and Richard Sho-Silva out on loan as well as the aforementioned Brown.

Our injury roster is ticking over with Jared Hodgkiss (left) out with an ankle injury and Robert Stambolziev with a thigh injury.  Stambolziev might be fit again for tomorrow but Jared looks very doubtful.  Wayne Thomas will probably cover for Carter for the next three games.

Boston have a bit of an injury crisis with winger Jay Rollins (hamstring), Kalern Thomas and Nat Brown both have thigh problems while Herve Pepe-Ngoma, Shane Clarke and Waide Fairhurst are all doubtful for various reasons.  Yesterday in a bid to combat the injury list they bought in young centre half Joe Robinson on loan from Ipswich Town

It would be good for us to carry on from that win last Saturday and even better if we could continue our un-beaten away form too so a win here would be magic.  Tough but magic.




Harriers from:
Hornby, Hodgkiss, Lowe, Hancocks, Digie, Williams, W Thomas, Tunnicliffe, B Clarke, Francis-Angol, Croasdale, Stambolziev, Gnahoua, Truslove, Austin, A Brown, McQuilkin, Sweeney, N'Gwatala, Dieseruvwe, Waite, Taylor.

Boston Utd from:
Dibble, Emery, Emery, N Brown, Burgess, Maguire, Pepe-Ngoma, Price, K Thomas, Wildin, Adams, Robinson, Chippendale, S Clarke, Hilliard, Marshall, McMillan, Roberts, Rollins, St Juste, Colley, Fairhurst, Johnson, Smith.

Talk about the game here

Links to Boston Utd websites here
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