Oxford United will be eager to set the record straight on two counts on Saturday.
They want to overturn their 3-1 defeat by Kidderminster last November, and make amends for their last home league performance, when they lost 1-0 to Tamworth on January 16.
Since then, the U’s have en-couragingly hammered in seven goals in back-to-backaway victories at Grays and Chelmsford, and look to be back to their best.
For manager Chris Wilder, it’s not about revenge, nor making up for previous losses, but about accumulating as many points as possible.
“We want a winning mentality,” he stressed, looking at his team’s success so far in both league and FA Trophy.
“I know I’ve said we want to do well on both fronts – I think we want to do well in every game we play, and I don’t think you can pick and choose your games.
“I don’t think you can say ‘we’ll cruise through this game and then we’ll really go for it in that game’.
“If that sets in, then you come unstuck.
“This club, over the last ten years, apart from Jim Smith’s side, has possibly had a losing streak in them, and losing seasons.
“We go out to win ever game. That’s not to say we’re going to do this, that and the other, because I’m never one for predictions.
“But we’re going out to be positive, we’ll have to be patient at times against Kidderminster because they have got some good players.
“When we went there we found ourselves two goals down very early, we made an awful start, and we had a man sent off. It was a difficult game for us.
“They’ve had a change of manager, they’ve got some good players in their ranks,” said the U’s boss, who watched the Harriers’ 1-0 FA Trophy win at Worcester on Monday night.
“I was just reading from the boy Bradley Pritchard at Tamworth, who does a column online for the BBC. He said how much he and his teammates put into the Oxford game.
“I imagine Kidderminster will be the same.
“There’s no doubt about it, they’re dangerous opponents.
“It’s a game where we’re going to have to stay patient, and focused in the times when we haven’t got the ball and they have their piece of the game.
“And we want to be positive when we have the ball, and we have our piece of the game.”
The good news for United is that Alfie Potter has recovered from the ankle injury he suffered against Chelmsfiord and should be in the squad to face Kidderminster.
Mark Yates was Harriers’ boss for the first half of this season. But he left to join Cheltenham Town, taking his assistant, Neil Howarth, with him.
Replacing them at Aggbor-ough are 50-year-old Steve Burr, previously the manager at Stalybridge Celtic, and he appointed midfielder John Finnigan as his assistant.
Since Burr’s arrival, they are unbeaten.
They drew 2-2 at Crawley, beat Grays 4-1, with Finnigan among the goalscorers, and then had that FA trophy win at Worcester which earned them a quarter-final tie at Oxford on February 20.
So it points to a tough match for the U’s.
Said Wilder: “We’ve had three really good results, a co-uple of really good performances, and difficult opposition because, away from ho-me, Grays and Chelmsford are tricky sides to play.
“We’re on the back of three wins, and we’d like to make it four.”
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