We kick off the new season tomorrow with a visit from one of last seasons relegated teams, Mansfield Town.  After being a member of the Division 2 elite, if only for one season, they will be hoping to bounce back at the first attempt.

They will see us as a minor irritant in their campaign but they haven't been spending much to achieve this.  They've bought in even less new faces than we have.  Only Tony Vaughan (Motherwell) Luke Dimech (Malta) and David Artell (Rotherham) have turned up on the Field Mill doorstep.

Artell will already be familiar with Harriers fans after his outstanding performances for Shrewsbury last season.  He grabbed the decisive goal for us in our 3-2 win at The Gay Meadow last October.  Laf!

One of our new signings, Matt Gadsby, would have been hoping to play against his old club tomorrow but that's out of the question because he's still out with knee ligament injuries.

Another ex Stag is Adam Willis.  He was only at Field Mill for a few weeks on loan in 1999 making just 10 appearances for them.

Old faces at Mansfield are the fondly remembered Colin Larkin (left) and the well known two faced, scheming turncoat Neil Mackenzie(right).  He should get a good welcome in front of the Aggie faithful.

Missing for the Stags could be new signing Vaughan who has an ankle injury and Adam Eaton who has ankle and groin problems along with a tight hamstring.

Apart from Gadsby the only question marks for us were Adie Smith, Dean Bennett and Bo Henriksen who had all picked up minor knocks during training this week but all should be fit for the big kick off.


Teams

Harriers from:
Brock, Danby, Stamps, Coleman, Willis, Ayres, Smith, Hinton, D Williams, Parrish, Flynn, Heath, Bennett, Ward, Shilton, Henriksen, J Williams, Bishop, Lewis.

Mansfield from:
Pilkington, White, Artell, Day, Hassell, Clarke, Corden, Curtis, Dimech, Disley, Christie, Larkin, Mackenzie, Mendes, White, Lawrence, Baptiste, Beardsley, Buxton, Carter, Hankey, Hurst, Jones, Mitchell, Williamson.