Cheltenham next

Jan, owes us one!
By KJ
January 25 2004

After picking up a point at Bury, Harriers head back to Aggboro for the "Old Farm Derby". Well its not really a derby, but its the closest Kidder have got to one, as many tractors are due north on the M5 this Tuesday evening (Jan 27th)as Cheltenham visit Aggboro

So Harriers picked up a point at Bury, not the worst result in the world. Unfortunately I didn’t attend yesterdays game, so I cant really comment. According to reports, it seemed a fair result. It does seem again that we cant really get on the scoresheet. This has been a problem all season, although with the new signings in attacking positions I’m sure we will start hitting the net soon. These signings do look good prospects from what I’ve seen of them. In midfield, Adam Murray looks a class act, some say that he reminds them of Mike Marsh, which would be great if “Muzza” could get close to Marsh’s level. I think it will be better when the rest of the team start to get sued to him. Up front we have Jesper Christiansen and Scott Rickards. Jesper’s general play is good and he just needs more chances. Scott looks fast and hopefully will get there when the opportunity arises.

Cheltenham Next

In Glasgow, they have the old firm derby, whilst in Worcs and Gloucs we have the “Old Farm Derby”. Well, its not a derby really, just that Cheltenham are the nearest Div 3 side to us, and we have exchanged many players over the years. Of course Cheltenham have ex Harriers legend Richard Forsyth in their squad, as well as former Harriers player, Mark Yates. The Robins are 2 points below us before Tuesday and will be looking to get away from the bottom of the table, just like ourselves. It will be a close game and I’m hoping for a win in a game very much a 6 pointer.

Previous meetings

Harriers and Robins have met many times over the years. Earlier this season, in an awful game, Cheltenham came from behind to win 2-1. both teams didn’t really play well at all, with the only Harriers highlight being Danny Williams thunderbolt free kick, which opened the scoring. The last time we met at Aggboro was in 2001/2, which finished goalless. Later that season, Harriers played Cheltenham in what was Jan Molby’s farewell gane, before he left for Hull. Harriers again took the lead through Larkin, but Cheltenham came back to win 2-1 and the locals (or yocals l.o.l.) had much fun in reminding the Kider faithful that big Jan was on his way. Of course, the Robins then lost their manager, Steve Cotterill in the following summer. Cotterill has guided them into Division Two before leaving for Stoke City. Since his departure, the Robins have failed to get much success in comparison to the Cotterill years. Former Harriers manager Graham Allner was Cotterills successor, but he failed and was replaced by Bobby Gould as Cheltenham were relegated back to div 3 after a single season at the higher level.

Gould, who was in charge for the Cheltenham win over Harriers in August 2003, resigned in October to be replaced by Bob Bloomer on a caretaker basis before former Wolves assistant boss, John Ward was appointed. In fact, before Ward’s appointment, it was rumoured that Steve Cotterill was coming back to Whaddon Road in the same way that big Jan returned to Aggboro. However the move never happened and Cotterill is still out of management. So lets hope we can win, after all Jan owes us one for that suffering he put us through in March 2002. not the fact that he was going but where we were when he had his swansong. As far as I’m concerned, all is forgiven now, but I would really appreciate a fine home win, mainly because it is 3 points towards safety, the fact we could beat our nearish neighbours would simply be a bonus.

Weather Warning, snow is forcast for Tuesday, so please check for postponements etc.