Football – England – Blue Square Premier
Saturday 26th January 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Kidderminster Harriers will be looking to consolidate their current play-off position by taking all three points when visitors Woking come to town on Saturday afternoon.
Kidderminster have been in strong form at their Aggborough Stadium losing just once in their last eleven league matches there which was a surprising 0-1 defeat at the hands of Hereford United on New Years Day, but aside from that loss, they’ve been very focused with the job in hand by beating the likes of Wrexham 2-0, Newport County 3-2, Dartford 5-1 along with a point against league leaders Grimsby Town.
Kidderminster’s home record stands at 7-3-4 24/13 and leading scorer is Ryan Rowe (9 goals, 1 assist) but he has Malbon (4 goals) in assistance along with the supply line produced by Demetriou (4 assists), Vaughan, Storer, Gittings and Blissett (all with 3 assists each) and between them all they should create plenty of goalscoring opportunities.
Visitors Woking have won four of their last five BSP matches with wins over Lincoln City 0-2, Stockport County 1-0, Luton Town 3-1 and Ebbsfleet United 1-0 with the other result being a defeat against Luton Town away from home on Boxing Day.
However, upon closer investigation we find that Woking’s successes have mainly been on home ground at their Kingfield Stadium as their away record currently stands at a dismal 3-1-9 16/34 and they possess the worst defensive record on the road in the division leaking goals left, right and centre!
Indeed, just one clean sheet in their last fourteen away matches which was courtesy also of their only win in their last five which was a 2-0 win at Lincoln City back in early December. Defeats on the road at Gateshead 1-2, Grimsby Town 1-5, a 0-7 dumping at Hyde and a 1-3 loss at Luton Town has undone their good work at home and that’s why they find themselves in a mid-table position right now as their home and away performances resemble their Jekyll & Hyde tendencies.
Striker Bradley Bubb (10 goals) and Betsy (7 goals, 6 assists) are the main threats up front along with McCallum (4 goals, 6 assists) and whilst Woking are likely to get on the scoresheet, they do seem to have a mental block away from home and often appear a totally different side.
To wrap up, Kidderminster have been solid at home while Woking’s away record at top half teams has been very disappointing at 1-0-6 9/21 and it will be this statistic that I think will be the difference here today; I’ll go for a 3-2 win for Kidderminster here.
Pick: Kidderminster straight win @ 1.75 William Hill
