Southend United v Kidderminster Harriers - Preview

Graeme Jones will be seeking his first Southend goal against Kidderminster tonight.

Rob Newman's side are currently in a rich vein of form, a 3-0 defeat at Rushden & Diamonds ten days ago does not disguise the fact the Southend have now won four of their last five matches, and victory tonight could see the Shrimpers, currently eighth, march into second place in the Division Three table.

Leon Cort's first half header earned United a 1-0 victory over Macclesfield Town at Roots Hall on Saturday, and it looks like Newman will be named an unchanged starting line-up, with Stephen Broad's head wound being passed fit after he managed to play the whole game on Saturday. Broad needed nine stiches after a clash of heads against Wimbledon last week. Tes Bramble has now also fully recovered from his sickness.

Graeme Jones will retain his place up front despite failing to score again against Macclesfield but there is no doubt that the strong striker, who will partner the in from Mark Rawle, will be more eager than ever to get his Shrimpers goalscoring account up and running.

This will be the fifth time that United have met Harriers in a competitive fixture - and the third at Roots Hall - following Kidderminster's promotion into the League in 2000 and so far Southend have only come out victorious once, Carl Hutchings' goal after only eighty seconds handing Blues a 1-0 Roots Hall victory last October. Harriers won the corresponding fixture 2-0 at Aggborough in late March.

Last Matches:-
Southend United 1 (Cort 26) Macclesfield Town 0, Line-up - Flahavan, Beard, Searle, Cort, Broad, Maher, Smith, Bramble, Jenkins, Rawle, Jones. Unused - Gay, Belgrave, Maye, Whelan, Steven Clark.

Scunthorpe United 1 (Brough 70) Kidderminster Harriers 1 (Shilton 45), Line-up - Brock, Hinton, Shilton, Clyde, Stamps, Ayres, Melligan, Williams, Broughton, Henriksen (Foster 78), Flynn. Unused - Ducros, Doyle, Joy, Danby.

Last Four Meetings:-
30th Match, 2002 - Kidderminster Harriers 2 Southend United 0 - Division Three
27th October, 2001 - Southend United 1 (Hutchings) Kidderminster Harriers 0 - Division Three
20th February, 2001 - Kidderminster Harriers 2 Southend United 1 (Black) - Division Three
12th September, 2000 - Southend United 1 (Roget) Kidderminster Harriers 1 - Division Three

SOUTHEND (from):- Darryl Flahavan, Daniel Gay, Mark Beard, Neil Jenkins, Damon Searle, Leon Cort, Stephen Broad, Tom Jordan, Phil Whelan, Kevin Maher, Jay Smith, Stuart Thurgood, Steven Clark, Danny Maye, Tesfaye Bramble, Graeme Jones, Mark Rawle, Barrington Belgrave.

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com

HEAD-TO-HEAD - SOUTHEND UNITED v KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS
Stats by www.soccer-stats.com