Kidderminster’s Caleb Richards hopes West Ham duo remember non-league days

Kidderminster defender Caleb Richards is ready to remind West Ham duo Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen of their non-league days on Saturday.

The Harriers will welcome the Premier League club to Aggborough this weekend for an FA Cup fourth-round tie set to be broadcast live on BBC One.

If Antonio and Bowen are selected, the trip to the National League North side may bring back memories of their teenage years at Tooting and Hereford respectively.

Asked about Jamaica international Antonio, Richards said: “Yeah, hopefully he has not forgotten what it is like.

“If he gets too close, he might get a bit of a shoulder barge but it will be a good game. Hopefully those types of players play and we will enjoy it.

“We have not been allowed to talk about it until now really. We’ve had to focus on each game as it comes but personally there are quite a few players I would like to play against.

“Obviously Declan Rice, possibly a future England captain, is someone I would love to play against and then the best of the rest at the minute in Jarrod Bowen and Antonio. They are flying.”

With 19 goals between them this season, West Ham’s hopes of avoiding an upset could depend on the displays of Bowen and Antonio in Worcestershire.

Even though Richards admitted the squad have not been able to talk much about the clash with the London side since their victory over Reading in the third round, the shock FA Cup win last month has boosted confidence.

“We’ve said what if we do them over because we beat Reading and we have done similar upsets before so who is to say we can’t do it again? We’re all excited.

“I don’t know how West Ham will look at us. They might look at us as a non-league side who is going to kick them.

“I don’t think it will be that type of game but if it has to be, it has to be.”

Richards has been an ever-present for Kidderminster this season and recently signed a new contract with the sixth-tier club until the summer of 2023.

He signed permanently for Harriers in March 2021 after three years with Norwich and is confident of working his way back into the English Football League under the guidance of manager Russ Penn.

“Hopefully I can progress my career with Kidderminster and keep progressing each season,” Richards added.

“The club wants to get back in the Football League, which is where it belongs. I think this season we have a great opportunity to get promoted.”

For Saturday the focus shifts to the cup, which brings back memories of the club’s memorable run to the fifth round in 1994 which West Ham ended with a 1-0 win at Aggborough.

A crowd of 8,000 awaited the Londoners on that occasion and Richards knows another special atmosphere will be in store.

He said: “If the fans can sing: ‘Kiddy are massive everywhere we go’ that does give us a boost.

“It gets loud at Aggborough and it will affect West Ham. They will be just as nervous as us really because they don’t want to be on the end of an upset.”