Revenge not on John Eustace's mind

Eustace takes his team to Lancashire for a first-round tie against the club who beat them to the National League North title and promotion last season.

Two players, defenders Jordan Tunnicliffe and Zaine Francis-Angol, meanwhile left Aggborough for Fylde during the summer.

But Eustace is adamant that will not serve as added motivation for him, or his team, to get one over on their opponents in the cup.

Asked if there was any added spice to the fixture, the boss replied: “Not at all. We have a very different team to last season and things have moved on. There is no added spice in it at all.”

Harriers have already knocked one National League Premier outfit out of the competition after beating Chester in the previous round. And with just one defeat in 11 games over the last two months, they are heading into the tie with some confidence.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of game it is or who the opponents are, we always go in looking to win,” said Eustace. “Fylde have an excellent team but we will go up there and give it a go. The players have done well to reach this stage of the competition but we want to go further.”

Harriers have fitness concerns over Dan Bradley, James Pearson and Liam Truslove, though James O’Connor is available after serving a one-game ban.

Eustace has, meanwhile, revealed full-back Lee Vaughan remains around a month away from full fitness as he continues to recovers from a broken leg suffered last season while playing for Tranmere.

“Lee is doing a bit of running but still has around four or five weeks to go,” he said.