A look ahead to Saturday’s trip to Southend United….
By Matty Paddock - 01/09/2023
Posted 2 years ago
RUSS PENN says Harriers face “a club that’s together” when they travel to Southend United in the National League on Saturday.
A first trip to Roots Hall since the 2004-05 season awaits the Reds, and they’ll meet a Shrimpers side who’ve been performing well despite off-field problems this term.
Well-documented financial issues have seen the Shrimpers in hot water in the last number of months, but, with takeover talk gathering momentum, there’s hope around the corner.
In the interim, Penn knows the difficulties have created a siege mentality at the club, with Southend breezing to a 2-0 win at Eastleigh in their last home game.
A defeat on Bank Holiday Monday as well as a recent points deduction puts Southend bottom of the table, but on merit they’ve started well – a fact not lost on the Harriers boss.
Speaking ahead of the game, he said: “They have had their problems, but I know what it is like to play at a club that’s together and they’re definitely like that at the moment.
“The fans, the players, the staff, and the community have all come together and it gets the extra 10, 20 percent out of the lads.
“We watched the game last Friday and it was a hostile atmosphere. They had their protests and then they really backed the boys.
“They’ll be disappointed with the result on Monday but, having watched that as well, they were decent and should in no way have lost the game so we know we’re up for a big challenge on Saturday.”
Roots Hall will present a major challenge to Penn and his players this weekend – as will all venues in the National League.
The Manager is adamant there’s no novelty factor to being back at Step 1 anymore, though, and insists it’s all about picking up results.
He went on to say: “It’s a tough place to go. Southend are clearly a club too big for this level but are here for [a] reason, so we’ll go with confidence looking to win the game.
“It is a really tough league and completely different to when I was at this level 15 years ago.
“The game has moved on financially, fitness-wise… we’re overjoyed to be at this level but the honeymoon period is over now and we’re looking to pick up as many points as we can ASAP.”
Penn confirmed Harriers will be without Matt Preston (calf) again this weekend but expect to have him available for next weekend’s meeting with Rochdale.
Shane Byrne (knee) was at training this week as he continues the tentative stages of his recovery from knee surgery.
Alex Penny will be back available for the trip to Essex after serving a one-match suspension for his sending off at Ebbsfleet United.
Harriers and Southend was a regular fixture in Harriers’ five seasons in the EFL. The two sides met ten times in what is now League 2, with the Reds last winning at Roots Hall in 2002.
Kick-off on Saturday is at 3:00pm
Away travel remains on sale from Harriers up to and including Friday.
Match tickets can be purchased from Southend United’s website.
Don’t forget, all Harriers matches are available on NLTV this season – find out more about where and how you can watch this one.
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