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FC United welcome Harrogate Town to Broadhurst Park

FC United welcome Harrogate Town to Broadhurst ParkFC United are looking to build on last weekend’s 6-1 victory over Lowestoft but a tough task awaits as in form Harrogate Town visit Broadhurst Park fresh from beating league leaders Solihull Moors 6-0.

The Reds are still without the injured Jerome Wright (back in training) and Rory Fallon (awaiting knee scan results) but they were boosted last week by the signings of defensive duo Chris Chantler and Tom Eckersley.

Chantler scored on his debut and Margy has nothing but praise for the 25 year-old former Manchester City and Carlisle United fullback. He said: "Chris is absolutely quality. Everyone who saw him play last week could see that. And that was his first game for 10 months due to injury, so when he gets fit who knows how good he can be?

"We’ll just enjoy the ride and enjoy having him in the squad because if he plays like that every week it won’t be long until other clubs higher up the leagues start talking about him."

Whilst 15th placed FC United have been flirting with the relegation zone, Saturday’s opponents have been making a push for promotion. The West Yorkshire club have won four and lost one of their last five matches, are seven points behind Solihull and have games in hand over most of their promotion rivals.

The two teams have met twice before and it’s 6-3 on aggregate to FC United with one win each. Both matches came in the FA Trophy - a 4-0 victory that helped kickstart the Reds’ season in 2014/15 and 3-2 defeat way back in 2009. A certain Simon Carden got both the FC United goals that day.

Margy knows that his team has to find some consistency if they are to avoid a relegation fight but he is confident they can do it. Speaking about the 4-0 horror show at Brackley Town, he said: "It was a bad day at the office. No players go out to lose 4-0. Nobody is happy with that and it hurts the players just like everybody else. But we draw a line under it and we move on."

Margy is also aware that he and the team have faced criticism from some supporters this season and he has no problems with it. He said: "Football is very emotive for people and understandably so. We share supporters’ frustration and disappointment when we lose.

"There is nothing wrong with criticism but there are more constructive ways of voicing your opinions than others. I just hope that everyone who was disappointed by the defeat at Brackley was equally as pleased with last week’s victory over Lowestoft. That’s the kind of result we aim for every week."

FC United versus Harrogate Town is this Saturday at Broadhurst Park with a traditional and supporter friendly kick-off time of three o’clock. Get yourself to our football ground.


First Posted ~ 21:48 Fri 29 Jan 2016
News ID ~ 6643
Last Updated ~ 16:00 Fri 19 Feb 2021