Harriers wait on loan striker Spencer
Kidderminster Harriers still don't know whether striker Damian Spencer will be allowed to play in a potential banana skin at minnows Matlock in the FA Trophy.
The loan player has yet to receive the nod from employers Kettering, with any potential involvement certain to leave Spencer cup-tied for his parent club. Ryan Charles, Harriers' other loan forward, was refused permission to play by his club Luton on Wednesday.
Either way, Harriers must plot a way past their Unibond League opponents at Causeway Lane in the first round tomorrow, with the Gladiators managed by former Wolves player and Premier League winner Mark Atkins.
It's the Derbyshire club's biggest game in nine years, when they knocked Northwich at the same stage.
Yates, leading the four-time finalists and one-time winners into their first hurdle in the competition, was today drumming that into his players.
He said: "They are a decent team and I have had them watched. It's a hard place to go and I imagine it won't be the most salubrious of surroundings. We have to cope with that to give ourselves the chance to get through.
"We have been there and done it in the trophy before, but that is all in the past now. First and foremost, at this point we know that we are only five games away from Wembley and it's likely to be someone from the top 10 in our division that will win the competition.
"We know we have not been as consistent as we would like just lately, and we can start to put it right here."
