FA Cup 2021-22: Excitement and uncertainty as Kidderminster plot third-round shock

Ashley Hemmings celebrates with fans after scoring for Kidderminster Harriers against Grimsby in the first round of the FA Cup

At Kidderminster Harriers, FA Cup fever has been bubbling since the lowest-ranked club left in the competition were paired with Reading from four leagues above.

A team from the sixth tier of English football at home to a struggling Championship club whose wage bill stands at £37.6m is an example of why the third round is the most romantic weekend in the football calendar.

The 'sold out' notices have been on display at Aggborough - Kidderminster's charming ground near the Severn Valley Railway - for more than a week, hospitality packages have been snapped up and the unofficial half-and-half souvenir scarves have been selling well on market day in the Worcestershire town.

As well as excitement, there is uncertainty in the air at the non-league club.

Kidderminster's past three matches in the National League North have been called off because of Covid-19 - all because of outbreaks in the opposition camps - while Reading only played their first game since 11 December on Monday because of coronavirus.

"This tie means everything to the club and it would be catastrophic if it was called off," says Harriers boss Russell Penn.

So how does a non-league club, where every single penny counts, prepare for its biggest FA Cup tie for years against the backdrop of a pandemic and multiple postponements?

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Kidderminster announced on 30 December that all tickets had been sold for the FA Cup tie with Reading

'A perfect storm'

Kidderminster, who reached the fifth round in 1993-94, were a Football League club for five seasons until 2004-05 and suffered another relegation from the National League in 2015-16.

"It's been a rough few years," Harry Taylor, 28, a supporter of his hometown club for the past 20 years, says.

"There's been a decline on the pitch and then you have the pandemic. That's a perfect storm for a lot of disillusionment."

Being drawn at home to Reading, whose squad includes former England forward Andy Carroll and Danny Drinkwater, a Premier League winner with Leicester City, has stirred interest.

This is Kidderminster's best FA Cup run since 2014 and Reading's visit is the hottest ticket in town, with Aggborough set to host a near 5,000 crowd - around three times their average league gate.

"There are people who hadn't been to games for 10 or 15 years before this FA Cup run," adds Taylor.

"They might go and watch rugby union at nearby Worcester Warriors while there is Premier League football 17 miles up the road at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"But they've come back for the games against Halifax [in the second round] and Reading.

"Saturday's tie isn't quite like when we were drawn against Wolves in the third round in 2004, when you had the butchers making special sausages and the local papers producing pullouts.

"But after everything that has happened over the past few years, people have really got involved which is brilliant."

Russell Penn played more than 200 times during two spells at Kidderminster before being named manager in 2020

From Wolves mascot to Kiddy boss

Provided the tie goes ahead - and there is nothing to suggest it will not right now - Reading will be Kidderminster's first game since 18 December and first at home since 5 December.

The festive home derby with Hereford was postponed two days before the game was scheduled to be played on 26 December. At the same time it was announced the away match at Kettering on 28 December was also off.

Harriers were hopeful the reverse fixture at Hereford on 2 January would go ahead but a phone call 30 hours before kick-off scuppered that.

"It's so frustrating," adds Penn, who played in Kidderminster's FA Cup third-round tie at Coventry City in 2009.

"You plan all week, miss the two games prior because of the opposition, and you really believe the next match is on because it's so late in the day they're not going to call it off.

"It probably impacts me and my staff more than the players. We have to prioritise everything through the week and you end up feeling you've done it all for nothing."

In December, the English Football League said a quarter of players at its member clubs "do not intend to get a vaccine" against Covid-19.

Penn, who is fully vaccinated, said there were players at Kidderminster who had not received a first dose.

"I cannot babysit every person in my changing room," he adds.

"Players are on their phones before training, after training and at night. They are listening to their idols, news feeds, listening to conspiracy theories. This works, that works, this doesn't work... it's a difficult one."

Kidderminster operate a full-time 22-man playing squad and have won five games to reach the third round.

They have earned £75,000 in prize money getting this far which has partly helped compensate playing 2020-21 behind closed doors, before their season was declared null and void after just 15 league games.

With the town rallying behind its club, Harriers can expect to make more money this weekend - whatever the result.

"The hospitality has sold out and the sponsors are coming in," says Penn, a former midfielder whose playing career also included spells at Burton Albion, Cheltenham Town and York City.

"It's everything the club deserves after a really difficult time."

Russell Penn grew up supporting Wolverhampton Wanderers and in 1993, aged eight, was a mascot for a match against Barnsley at Molineux. He is pictured shaking hands with Tykes captain Neil Redfearn. "I still go and watch them when I can," he says

Full steam ahead

At 3pm on Saturday, Taylor will be standing in the North Stand - "the noisiest part of Aggborough".

He will be hoping it is full steam ahead for Harriers like the nearby Severn Valley Railway.

"You can hear the trains when they pass and you get this marvellous smell of smoke and steam," he adds.

Kidderminster fans will savour every moment of Saturday's occasion after a challenging two years for the club.

"Last season we were reduced to watching football on live stream," says Taylor.

"The euphoria at the end of our first-round win over Grimsby, it was like falling back in love with football all over again after not being able to get into grounds because of the pandemic.

"When we were allowed back in the ground, we didn't know what was going to happen or what it would be like.

"Like a lot of clubs at our level, we have an ageing fanbase.

"To come back and pretty much see the same faces making the same comments, winding up the opposition strikers - it was almost like time had stood still and the pandemic hadn't happened.

"After the previous 18 months, it was brilliant to see."

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