The Harriers are facing a big game tomorrow when we have our first return league game of he season. Darlington are the first to be honoured that way and with us already having taken three points off them in Tyne & Wear earlier in the season then this could also see our first double of the season.With the Harriers in second place in the league and Darlington in fifth we find ourselves only two points better off so three points will open something of a gap. Third placed Chorley are at home to fourth placed Tamworth so a draw there would suit us while AFC Fylde are away at Gloucester so we may not gain anything on the leaders but they're due a slip up and an early warning sign was shown in the FA Trophy at Brackley on Tuesday evening when Fyle got hammered 4-0.
In our win up in Darlington it was Arthur Gnahoua (right) on the scoresheet grabbing the only goal of the game and since then he has gone on to become our leading scorer with thirteen goals. Hopefully that tally will be increased tomorrow but with us scoring goals from all over the park it wouldn't be the end of the world if he failed to score.
Last week we put four goals past AFC Telford Utd in the Trophy to set us up with a home tie against Ebbsfleet of the Conference South. They beat Woking following a replay on Tuesday evening while a week earlier Darlington were saying sayonara at Marine when they lost 3-2 after taking a 2-1 halftime lead. That defeat lead to the manager, Martin Gray, playing six of those first teamers in the reserves game last Saturday. They lost 1-0 to Redcar.
We should have an almost fully fit squad for the game with only Jared Hodgkiss out long term. Ryan Croasdale should be able to take his place in the starting eleven again after missing the Telford game due to a little baby being born (congratulations to Ryan and Georgina). Darryl Knights made his debut for us in the second half of the game and looked pretty good, as you would expect, but I don't think he'll be getting a start just yet.
It's not known what the state of the Darlignton squad is but they have just bought in goalkeeper Ben Dudzinski on loan from Hartlepool while the former York, Tranmere and Torquay midfielder Danny Racchi is trialling for them and could get a game.
This six pointer game is very important to us if we want to go back into the league above so it goes without saying that it's one that we must win. Three points tomorrow would also set us up nicely for Christmas too when we have the long awaited double header against local rivals Worcester City.
Photo © KHFC
Teams:
Harriers from:
Hornby, T Palmer, Hodgkiss, Lowe, Williams, Carter, Knights, Osborne, Evans, Thomas, Tunnicliffe, Francis-Angol, Croasdale, Gnahoua, Truslove, Austin, A Brown, McQuilkin, N'Gwatala, Dieseruvwe, Waite.
Darlington FC from:
Bell, Jameson, Dudzinski, G Brown, Burgess, Hunter, Lovegreen, Marrs, Watson, Falkingham, Milburn, Galbraith, Racchi, Portas, Saunders, Scott, Turnbull, Wearmouth, Syers, Beck, Cartman, Gillies, Hardy, Thompson.
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