A look to Harriers home match against Darlington in National League North…
By Matty Paddock - 06/05/2022
Posted 4 years ago
RUSS Penn says Harriers are determined to finish the regular season strongly when they welcome Darlington to Aggborough on Saturday.
Harriers already have the play-offs firmly in their sights after a strong season so far, but must round-off the campaign first with a tough test against The Quakers.
Alun Armstrong’s men were in the hunt for the play-offs right up until the last couple of weeks, too.
They’d struggled for consistent results in the early part of the campaign, but good form particularly February onwards thrust them right into the mix.
In fact, they twice won three on the bounce in quick succession and went on a run of one defeat in 11 league matches.
Only a slight stutter and three straight defeats last month put the play-offs beyond them, but there’s no doubt they’ll be travelling to Aggborough looking to end things on the right note.
Russ Penn accepts it’s an unusual game in some respects given next week’s Eliminator, but he firmly insisted the job in hand is to play the last game of the regular season at Aggborough in the right way.
He explained to our YouTube channel: “Players are playing for contracts so it’s going to be a funny occasion.
“What I don’t want it to be is a testimonial charity game. We’ve got to hit it hard and be ready for it.
“I always say you can’t turn [performances] on and off like a tap, you’ve got to be at it.
“Let’s give the crowd to say ‘you’ve stuck with us all season and we’ll end the season on a high’ going into the [play-offs].
“Overall, it has been a fantastic season, but we’re not finished…we’re looking forward to it, but we’ve got a job to do on Saturday.”
Harriers fans are asked to stay behind after the final whistle on Saturday for the club’s end of season presentations.
“I think the fans and players deserve it,” added the boss.
“The reason for doing it after the game is that, yes, we want to appreciate the season we’ve had, but also want to draw a line under it as well as we’re going into the business end where it’s all about results.
“It will be a great send off after the game on Saturday to enjoy what we’ve done, draw a line and swiftly move on.”
There are no new injury worries to concern Penn, but he did admit that there are still a few players with the proverbial bumps and bruises following the last home game against Guiseley last Saturday.
Harriers and Darlington fans are reminded that there is no longer the facility to pay cash at the turnstiles at Aggborough.
You can still pay in person on the day of the game at the Ticket Office (including in cash), but this incurs a £2 increase on our standard match day prices, so your best bet is to purchase in advance of the day if you can – as this will also potentially save you some queueing!
You can do so online via our ticketing platform or, if you need assistance, by calling 01562 823 931 during opening hours.
Again, it is still possible to buy your tickets at the Ticket Office (up to 15 minutes after kick-off), but you can’t pay cash at the turnstile.
You can a pre-order a copy of Saturday’s match day programme for postage only) now.
Kick-off is at 3:00pm.
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