This is one of the earlier rounds of the FA Trophy. Whether it’s qualifying or proper I haven’t checked; it all seems unnecessarily complicated in that respect.
Try as I might, and I have, I’ve never really been able to give much of a fig for the FA Trophy, but nevertheless I still have nightmares about that second leg against Forest of Green Rovers when they were rubbish and unfunded by Vince’s cables.
This is very much the amuse bouche before the main course of the festive National League North double header between these two giants of BBC Hereford and Worcester’s football coverage, but bragging rights are at stake and a win for the hosts would be a statement of intent before those more meaningful league games to come.
In league terms, it would be great, and mutually beneficial, if both clubs were a division higher, and hopefully that will soon be the case. Kidderminster have certainly started the season strongly and look like rock-solid play-off candidates as they look to return to the top tier of non-league football. They sit fourth in the table having won four of their last five games.
Not for the first time, the big danger from the visitors will be winger Ashley Hemmings, a reliably consistent goalscorer with plenty of Football League experience. He has scored eight times this season already. Up front Amari Morgan-Smith is a big, bustling presence, and he scored last Saturday in the 4-1 win at Alfreton. To complete the triumvirate of dangers, captain Sam Austin scored two in that same game. Oh, and just to add a fourth to the trilogy (© Douglas Adams), Omari Sterling will also be a handful up front, and completed the scoring in the Alfreton game.
Experienced defender and ex-Bull Keith Lowe is now in his third spell at Aggborough after stints with York, Cheltenham and Macclesfield, and with 500+ matches under his belt he knows his onions, although also under his belt are elderly knees, so he may not start.
Hemmings and Austin were again on the scoresheet as Kiddy came from behind to beat Gloucester in midweek, with ex-Bull Ollie Hulbert scoring for the Tigers, in a game Harriers fans travelled to in reasonable numbers.
So, they’re good, and they’re full time, and in recent encounters with the Bulls have been quite ‘robust’, led in that respect by Mr Morgan-Smith, but however good or full time or robust they are they’re still only Kidderminster.
Hereford have of course now won four on the bounce, five if you include Westfields, and are suddenly only another four wins on the bounce off consolidating a place in the play-offs themselves.
Krystian Pearce’s presence in the team seems to equal ‘nil’ for the opposition, which is great, whereas Miles Storey’s absence from the team seems to equal some just-get-it-done football at times but a collective will to find a way to score.
When Storey returns, the opposition will have to accumulate yellow cards fouling either him or Tom Owen-Evans, not both of them, unless they want to end with eight or nine men. TOE’s time will come, and he’s endured a fair bit of attrition over the last few weeks as a marked man.
The Bulls did of course get to the final of the Trophy last year, beating Stamford on the way, the club that caused a shock in knocking Harriers out in the previous round. Could it be third time lucky for Hereford at Wembley this year? Would a run in the Trophy be detrimental to a simultaneous attempted surge up the National League North table into the play-offs? Cynics may suggest that the Bulls squad is now big enough to have a go at both.
I concluded my preview of the Chorley game a few weeks ago as follows:
‘We’re up and running from here on in, with that ragged cuckoo of a stadium becoming jam-packed in December as the result of a WWWWWW November form line.’
I make mention of that not because I want to come across as a ghastly know-it-all tosser, but because that form line has now reached WWWW, and is therefore well on its way to WWWWWW, and getting there would be absolutely smashing, like when the Blue Peter milk-bottle-top appeal got to its target in the olden days.
Defeat to Hereford has of late resulted in the defeatee disposing of their manager, with Blyth and then Chester defenestrating the gaffer (which admittedly sounds like a euphemism for probably the filthiest thing anyone could ever imagine). It’s a bit insulting really, like losing to Hereford is a sackable offence, but there’s little chance of Russ Penn getting the boot if Harriers lose here.
It could be another half-decent crowd and half-decent atmosphere for this one, and hopefully another fully decent result, although beating Kettering on Tuesday would be better, much better.
COYW