The Harriers are soon back into Trophy action tomorrow following their 3-1 victory at home to Lincoln Utd in the last round two weeks ago. That win put them into the first round proper where we could have found ourselves paired with one of the giants of non-league football but instead us minnows stick together and so our opponents will be AFC Telford Utd. At least they're local and will bring a massive amount of followers with them.To get to this stage they beat Ramsbottom Utd 2-0 away from home and that was only their second away win of the season with their only away league win coming at struggling Altrincham in mid October. They beat us 1-0 at the New Bucks Head in September after we dominated the game for the whole ninety minutes but our failure to take our scoring chances was proven when we fluffed a penalty in the closing stages of the game to head back on the Bridgnorth road in a state of depression.
We are much improved since then and no longer miss penalties but that's down to not having one awarded to us anyway. Joking apart we are improved and have been finding the net with ease in the past four games with twelve scored and only two put past us with three goals scored in each of those four games. It's just a shame that we don't seem to want to really put teams to the sword and score more than three.
We'll have a 'new' player on display for the game with the arrival of Darryl Knights (right) during the week. He left Solihull Moors to join us and he's signed a contract until the end of the season. With his experience in midfield he should become quite an asset for us but it's hard to see who will be making way for him either in the starting eleven or on the bench. Whatever it'll be interesting to see how he's improved since his previous spell with us in 2008.
We should have no injuries apart from the usual. Telford could be without defenders Luca Havern and Dwayne Samuels for the game following injuries picked up at Harrogate last Saturday. They were being assessed during the week but Samuels seems the most doubtful with a possible ligament injury. Striker Dave Hibbert will return after missing that game with a minor injury.
One who will be missing is James Hurst. The former Torquay Utd defender got into a bit of social media trouble after arguing with supporters on there. He was suspended for two weeks but hasn't been seen at the club since. If we lose a defender in the New Year then, as an attack minded full back like ZFA and Ty Williams, he could be a good addition for us.
They bought in a winger from Lincoln City last week, Elliot Hodge, but he's cup tied after turning out for Stafford Rangers in the last round while on loan there.
Some say that we should be concentrating on the league and getting instant promotion back into the Premier but others say we should try to win every game we play in. We do have depth in the squad now so we should be capable of doing both.
I think that come tomorrow evening we'll still be doing both.
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.
AFC Telford Utd from:
Montgomery, Bailey, Broome, Crooks, Fitzpatrick, Havern, Hibbert, Kearns, Kissock, McCarthy, McCone, O'Hanlon, Rea, Reid, Reynolds, Royle, Samuels, Sangha, Wilson.
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