Saturday: AFC Telford v Harriers

---

RUSS Penn wants his players to get back to National League North action in the right way at AFC Telford United on Saturday.

Harriers have been bouncing between The FA Cup and league action since the autumn and managing the two has been achieved with real style.

Now, though, the Cup is done and put away for good – at least for another year – following the dramatic exit at the hands of West Ham a week ago.

Now there is just the minor matter of a promotion campaign to try and continue, with Harriers handily placed in the league table as things stand, and with an almighty run of fixtures ahead.

It all starts at The New Bucks Head on Saturday, as the Reds make the short trip to tackle a Telford side smarting from a midweek home defeat to Southport.

Penn was there on the night to take in the opposition, and he knows that United have, that result aside, been on the up in recent weeks after a horrid start to the campaign.

Going into Tuesday, Paul Carden’s men were on a run of one defeat in six, including eye-catching wins against Darlington (5-0) and Bradford (3-0).

He reflected: “The pitch is in good nick, I went there the other night, it’s a nice, big pitch.

“There will be a good crowd, it’s a little local derby and we’re looking forward to it.

“We’ll respect them big time as they’ve had an upturn in form of late, so we’ve got to be on our mettle.

“Take Tuesday night away and they’ve been on a good run of form and got off the bottom.

“I respect Paul a lot, I used to play against him back in the day and I know what type of character he is.

“He’s brought in some good players and recruited well, but it’s about us on Saturday, it has to be about us.”

Harriers own position in the table and a strong first half of the league season will be lost if the team “falls flat,” says the gaffer, who hopes to have an almost fully fit squad to choose from for the short trip.

Striker Ethan Freemantle is the only injury doubt, described as “touch and go” after his recent hamstring injury, with Cliff Moyo now training fully.

Joe Foulkes made his latest comeback to action for Harriers after an ankle injury with match time in the Worcestershire Senior Cup defeat to Worcester City.

Keziah Martin also returned from injury against West Ham last weekend and is back fully available.

Harriers fans travelling to AFC Telford United on Saturday can purchase their match tickets in advance from the hosts via their website. We urge as as many as possible to do this, as queuing on a match day can be substantial.

Kick-off at The New Bucks head is at 3:00pm.

---

---