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Six matches were set to be played in the National North League this evening. However the game between Hereford and Macclesfield was called off at lunchtime.
As it turned out this was a sensible decision as it has hammered down at Edgar Street this evening.
Alfreton 2 Spennymoor 1
Bedford 3 Buxton 0
Marine 2 AFC Telford 1
Merthyr 3 South Shields 1
Southport 2 Chester 2
Alfreton have moved above Hereford into 19th place.
Hereford Under 18's are playing Worcester Raiders at Hinton FC tomorrow (Wednesday) evening.
Goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore has joined Bedford Town on loan from Boreham Wood for the rest of the season.
14 years after he joined West Brom as a ten year old, Hereford born Josh Griffiths is now the club's number one goalkeeper.
Neil Warnock has backed the National League 3UP campaign. 'Clubs in the bottom division of the EFL, they don’t have a divine to stay there when there's non-League teams that are absolutely superb and run really well,' said Warnock.
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| Hereford At Merthyr in 2017 |
Today's Guardian carries an article all about 'friendship forged on football terraces'.
The article features supporters of several different football clubs and how they met.
Merthyr Town is one of the clubs.
Mark and Nigel remember the first time they met, in the early 80s. Not actually on the terraces, but heading to an away game: Merthyr Town were playing Cardiff City in the Welsh Cup. “Me and my then girlfriend were having a nice kissing session on the train, while Nigel was getting hassled by some Cardiff fans,” Mark says.
Nigel remembers Mark, who was a skinhead at the time, disentangling from his amorous liaison and emerging from under a sheepskin coat “like David Jason’s in Only Fools and Horses” to come to his aid, and has been grateful ever since. Merthyr lost the game 5-0, but Mark and Nigel both gained a mate for life, and they’ve watched the Martyrs together from the same spot at Penydarren Park ever since.
And it’s not just the two of them. Mike showed up, later in the 80s. “He’s from a different part of town, a different religion – we’ve still got Catholic and Protestant schools in Merthyr,” Mark says. The group grew, and started a fanzine: they became the Dial M for Merthyr lads.
There’s now a core of 15 or 20 pals, and I’m on a video call with five of them: Mark, Nigel and Mike, plus more recent recruits Louis and Jason, speaking from in and around Merthyr Tydfil. “An oasis of football in the sea of rugby in the south Wales valleys,” says Mark. “Since the deindustrialisation of our area, the only thing we have left is football.” Actually, Mark’s not at home right now. He’s gone to another away game – Wales’s World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan; he’s in a hotel room in the capital, Astana.
Oh, and they’re all part-owners of the club, which became fan owned in 2010 after liquidation. Mark, Nigel and Mike were instrumental in that, too, but this is more about terrace friendship than business affairs.
For home games at Penydarren Park, the Dial M lads stand in the CTM memorial stand – not its official name, but what they started to call it after one of their lot, 72-year-old Colin the Monk (named after a bad haircut), didn’t show up for a few weeks. “We thought he was dead, so we put up a little plaque,” says Mark, who does most of the talking. “But, a few weeks later, he reappeared. He’d just moved away with a new girlfriend.” Colin the Monk is off again soon, to live in the Philippines.
They look out for one another, even if they don’t see much of each other away from the CTM stand. “It’s a bit like the Cheers bar, where everyone knows your name,” says Mark. “You can be having a really bad week, you could be depressed, we’ve had a few of those: three o’clock and so-and-so’s not here, let’s give him a ring and see what’s up.”
Hereford FC chairman Chris Ammonds has commented about the decision to call off tonight's game against Macclesfield.
The decision was taken at around 12.30 pm in good time to stop both Macclesfield and supporters who live some way away from setting out.
It will also allow manager Paul Caddis to have a training session this evening.
"Not ideal," said Ammonds.
"But the pitch is sodden after yesterday's spells of heavy rain, on top of the water obviously already holding in certain sections on Saturday.
"Work already being planned to check drainage situation.
"While 100% unavoidable, apologies for any inconvenience caused."
There are six matches set to be played in the National North League this evening.
Alfreton v Spennymoor
Bedford v Buxton
Hereford v Macclesfield (Pitch Inspection at 12.30pm)
Marine v AFC Telford
Merthyr v South Shields
Southport v Chester
There will be a pitch inspection at Edgar Street ahead of this evening's game against Macclesfield.
Hereford said with the weather due to worsen ahead of tonight's match, a qualified official will inspect the pitch at 12.30pm today.
A decision will then be announced, the club said, with the match against the 8th-placed side due to kick off at 7.45pm.
The Met Office is forecasting an overcast afternoon, before rain starts at 4pm. It will become heavier as the evening goes on before easing around 11pm.
Macclesfield said that , although it will be a "relatively early evaluation", it had been planned with team and supporter travel from Cheshire taken into account.
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| It's 13 Years Since Hereford Last Played Macclesfield At Edgar Street |
A win for Hereford tomorrow evening over Macclesfield is priced at around 13/8 by the bookmakers.
Currently Hereford are in 19th place in the National North League table with 16 points from 16 games.
Macclesfield are 8th with 25 points from 15 games.
Last Saturday lost 3-0 at Edgar Street to Southport (20th). Macclesfield, watched by 3220, drew 1-1 with AFC Telford (18th).
Hereford's home record is won 2, drawn 3 and lost 3.
Macclesfield's away form is won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2.
As for goal difference it's minus 9 for Hereford, plus 4 for Macclesfield.
Recent Form:
Hereford DLDLL
Macclesfield WWWWD
Hereford 13/8 Draw 13/5 Macclesfield 6/4
In this particular case father is Mark Cooper and his son is Charlie Cooper who is on loan with Hereford from Yeovil.
Mark was released from his post as manager of Yeovil at the end of August and remains without a job.
During Saturday's game Mark chatted with several others watching the game against Southport.
There will be a meeting of the board of Hereford FC this evening.
The date for the meeting was agree some time ago.
However the poor form on the field and the consequent drop in revenue is expected to feature in their discussions.
Also the loss of car parking close to the ground is another subject to discuss.
The financial report for the year to May 31st which is close to being finalised and the figures so far this season are also likely to be talked about.
The chairman of HUST, Richard Tomkins, has expressed his concern about the loss of car parking spaces at Merton Meadow which adjoins Edgar Street, the home of Hereford FC.
"There will be an impact of parking at the ground in the medium term," Tomkins told the Hereford Times.
He said that HUST surveys had shown that when supporters park on Merton Meadow around 60% of them bring others with them who probably go shopping which brings money into the city.
"If that dissipates who knows what will happen.
"The car parks are well-used, especially for the bigger gates, which is revenue for the council.
Recently the north end of the car park has been closed to allow ponds to be built.
"A lot of home fans drive to matches. Only about 50 per cent are from the city, the rest are from elsewhere in the county, or neighbouring counties."
The council have said there is parking elsewhere in the city which supporters can use.
But that view seems at odds when a new 40 year lease has just been agreed with the football club.
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Hereford FC and everyone with an emotional stake in the club will be hoping that this Tuesday’s game against Macclesfield FC goes considerably better than last Tuesday’s against Oxford, and Saturday’s against Southport.
This one’s a battle between two phoenix clubs who in recent years lost their surnames as a result of terminal financial problems. United and Town are now both truncated ‘FCs’ as newly formed clubs.
Newly promoted Macclesfield emulated Hereford in shooting up the lower leagues (after previous incarnation Macclesfield Town went pop in 2020), and cantered into the National League North in winning the Northern Premier last season, a good few weeks before the end of the season.
Media darling Robbie Savage was at the helm for that promotion, before leaving for Nailsworth’s Forest Green Rovers. The loss of the distraction of his national profile may be no bad thing, but the loss of Laurent Mendy, Tre Pemberton, and Neil Kengni, who went with him to the Stroud Valleys, could have been felt more deeply. That hasn’t really been the case though, as like Merthyr they’ve adapted quickly and well to the NLN, and sit in eighth place.
On Saturday they drew 1-1 at home to Telford, a result that ended a run of four straight wins that took the Silkmen to the periphery of the play-offs.
Centre forward Danny Elliott has eight goals in 14 games this season and will profit from any sleepiness or sloppiness in the Hereford defence, or specifically from those dreaded ‘individual errors’ that have been questionably cited as being the sole cause of Hereford’s poor start to the season. He scored 40 in 50 last season at a level lower, and got a goal every other game for Boston at this level a few seasons ago.
Midfielders Justin Johnson and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts are familiar players from their time with Chorley and Curzon Ashton respectively, with Johnson being Chorley’s star man a couple of seasons ago.
The league table now paints a stark picture for Hereford. 11 points behind Kidderminster who sit in the final play-off spot, just a point above the dreaded relegation dotted line, and three points clear of bottom club Leamington.
Saturday’s Edgar Street crowd was marginally up on recent weeks — astonishing loyalty from a fabulous fanbase. Given the outcome of that game, the position in the table of the opposition and the fact that they played over half the game with ten men, this could be the first game in this difficult season where the fans vote with their feet and stay away. Club captain Lewis Hudson’s plea on Saturday evening for everyone to stick together was a typically dignified intervention, but it’s certainly more obligation than enjoyment at the moment for many fans.
Paul Caddis and now Hudson have both made it clear that the dressing room is far from ‘lost’, and that at least offers some sort of base camp from which to attempt to launch a salvage mission on the season.
Matt Preston will be serving his one-match ban here for his sending off last week, with Kyle Howkins and Mike Parker set to form the centre back partnership.
The young centre forward McFarlane from Solihull has started relatively quietly but it can’t have been easy coming into a dressing room low on morale. It would be timely if he could now, having had two games to find his feet, start to show what he can do, with one of those things hopefully being the scoring of bucketloads of goals.
Harley Hamilton didn’t take long to get off the mark in opening his goal account for the club, and something that has been lacking this season (OK one thing among quite a few) has been a player with the ability to bundle ugly goals in. If he has that happy knack he’ll have been a good capture from Alvechurch.
Perhaps he could start here and inject a bit of enthusiasm into the side, given that he hopefully won’t yet have been tainted by the demoralising effects of the difficult start to the season that must be weighing heavily on some of the players who have endured Kings Lynn, Chorley, Hemel Hempstead, Oxford and now Southport (incidentally a list of places that never appear on perfume bottles or designer clothing labels in the same way Paris, Milan and New York do).
Two scenarios:
1/ 1700 witness a blistering performance that emerges from nowhere and delivers a 4-1 win, while 800 people simultaneously mutter ‘Bloody typical’ as they choose, totally understandably, to stay at home with their slippers on having had enough of the ‘entertainment’ they’ve been subjected to over the last few weeks. The irony being that 800 is what constitutes an average attendance for the league leaders.
2/ 2500 turn up again because they don’t want to miss witnessing the moment the corner is turned, everything suddenly clicks, and this rotten run comes to an end. As it will.
Whatever happens, Paul Caddis is presumably going to have to try something genuinely radically different, and I don’t know what form that might take (possibly registering and playing himself at right back?), but you wouldn’t want to miss it would you?
COYW
A large selection of HFC pin badges will be on sale pre match this Tuesday v Macclesfield. The badges pictured are available at £1 or £3 each ( cash only ) from a sales point in front of the matchday ticket office. As usual all proceeds go directly to HFC.
Some pictures from around Edgar Street last Saturday where before the game there was a one minute silence for former manager Colin Addison.
Highlights from last Saturday's game between Hereford and Southport are now online.
To watch pleaae go to: https://herefordfc.co.uk/2025/11/highlights-hereford-fc-1-2-southport-fc/
Southport manager Neil Danns has hailed his side picking up three points at Edgar Street to lift them off the foot of the National League North table.
It's now seven points out of the last nine for the Sandgrounders and Danns, who made nearly 600 senior appearances for clubs including Crystal Palace, Bolton Wanderers and Bury, thought his side were absolutely outstanding against Hereford.
Having taken the lead through a stunning corner from Danny Lloyd whuch sailed straight into the back of the net in the 29th minute, the visitors were reduced to 10 men seven minutes later as Callum Edwards picked up his second yellow for a push on Lewis Hudson. Despite losing a man, Jordan Slew got the better of Aaron Skinner in first half stoppage time and slotted low past Theo Richardson.
"We said at half time, it's going to take a gigantic effort to come away from here with three points," he told Southport's YouTube channel after the game.
"I said 'but the feeling you'll get after that when you stick together' and what I witnessed in that second half was a squad, not just the players on the pitch, a squad and a staff that were all in it together.
"That's what pleased me the most."H
He added: "You don't come to these places and get three points easy and especially in the position that we've been in, it's been been a fantastic result and one I'm really proud of.
After a disappointing start to the season, Danns has admitted that while he wants his side to play football, he wants them to be "horrible to play against and that's been one of our mantras".
Into the second half, Southport defended deeply and often had 10 men behind the ball to thwart Hereford's attempts to get back in the game and end their run of five games without a win.
Frequent fouls frustrated the hosts and ripped shirts for centre-backs Kyle Howkins and Matt Preston may go some way to showing how difficult Southport were to play against.
"I think testament to lads and the shape and that, when we did go down to 10 men, we were still a threat, especially in that first half," Danns, 42, added.
"Obviously in the second half as you go later in the game, the lads have been running and running and running, you're normally going to end up dropping deeper, but when they did drop deep, they were absolutely outstanding.
"They were throwing the bodies on the line and I think you've seen at the end there the clearance off the line. Chris [Renshaw] has made some great saves today. I think you gain more from these victories, you don't just gain the three points. I think the lads gain a sense of togetherness and willingness to battle for each other, to demand off each other, and that was all evident today."
Preston Bitemo has made an instant impact at Kettering Town after joining the step three side on loan from Hereford.
Preston Bitemo, second left, has scored on his debut for Kettering Town
This week, the central midfielder joined the Poppies until 3rd January.
He had struggled to claim many first team opportunities at Hereford this season after missing most of the last campaign through injury.
But as Kettering travelled to Quorn, Bitemo sealed the win with a goal three minutes into stoppage time. As Poppies' keeper Jason Alexander punched the ball clear, Bitemo burst forward and fired over the home stopper.
After the game, Bitemo posted on X (formerly Twitter): "Big win, Debut goal, We go again 💪🏾. Thank you to all travelling fans 👏🏾👏🏾"
The 2-0 win sees Kettering rise to 7th in the Southern League Premier Central table.
A selection of pictures from the second half of this afternoon's game at Edgar Street.
Remaye Campbell added: Couldn’t agree more, It’s vital that we all stick together as one and turn this around. We all need your support more than ever
A few pictures from the first half of this afternoon's game at Edgar Street.
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| Harley Hamilton's scrappy goal was little more than a consolation |
Last week, Hereford looked at the table and saw their next games were against Oxford City in 23rd and rock bottom Southport - but pressure is growing on Bulls boss Paul Caddis after a 3-0 and a 2-1 defeat, respectively.
Hereford failed to capitalise when they were on top in the opening stages of the game and after going 2-0 down by half time, courtesy of a sublime Danny Lloyd corner going straight past Theo Richardson and Jordan Slew beating his man and finding the back of the net, 10-man Southport defended deeply and kept Hereford at bay.
With Lawson D'Ath and Aaron Skinner in for Michael Parker and Charlie Cooper, Hereford started brightly at an Edgar Street bathed in autumnal sun. Playing quick, passing football, two early shots for Sam Osborne and Remaye Campbell in Hereford's 4-4-2 formation tested visiting keeper Chris Renshaw.
As Southport - who beat Buxton 2-1 midweek - upped the ante, Howkins, who had two shirts ripped in the first half, blocked a viscous shot, Gus Mafuta made his way into the referee's notebook and Southport were awarded their first corner of the game. In what was a freak goal on 29 minutes, Danny Lloyd’s inswinging corner from the right curled straight into Richardson’s net to the disbelief of Hereford's squad.
Now on the backfoot against the basement side, Hereford needed to react. Despite some earlier half chances for Remaye Campbell, Renshaw wasn't being properly tested - and that trend continued. With a free kick conceded by the already booked Mafuta, resulting in a lengthy lecture from referee Brandon Scaife, Ted Leville unleashed a shot which took a deflection and whistled wide with Richardson at full stretch to his right.
As Southport found themselves down to 10 men with Callum Edwards picking up two yellows in three minutes - the first for a cynical foul and the second for a push on Hudson as he tried to take a throw-in quickly, a quick shuffle of the pack saw Danny Lloyd replaced by Dylan Dwyer.
Half time: Hereford 0 - Southport 2
Into the second half, Preston, who had been donning a ripped shirt, was replaced by Michael Parker and Mafuta, on a yellow, made way for Charlie Cooper. Early on, Osborne’s cross-cum-shot was inches too far ahead of the onrushing Sterling-James but Hereford struggled to created meaningful chances despite a sustained period of pressure.
With Southport defending heavily and often having 10 men inside the 18-yard box, it proved a big challenge for Hereford to test the keeper. While two Omari Sterling-James free kicks from the right put the visitors under pressure, the ball never fell kindly to be converted into a much-needed goal.
With Richardson saving a Mo Touray shot from range and, in front of the Meadow End, a clearance off the line during a goalmouth scramble denying the host's a goal, the clock kept ticking if Hereford wanted to get anything from the game.
With Eno Nto, Harley Hamilton and Andy Williams now on the pitch, a consolation goal did come in the 85th minute as Hamilton's effort pinged around in a congested penalty spot and made it over the line.
Attendance: 2,638 (41 away)
Sponsors' man of the match: Omari Sterling-James
As boos were heard at the final whistle and as players thanked the supporters, today's game was a must-win and Hereford failed. All too often they are not capitalising when on top, conceding first and their attacking force not effective enough to cancel out a defence which is being found out and leaking goals. You could say leadership is missing on the pitch, but the real answers to Hereford's woes seem more complicated.
In short, pressure is building on Caddis to produce improved results. While true that sometimes Hereford do look a side capable of playing football, they are not a side currently able to win them. Southport, a poor side in reality as the table proves, looked good this afternoon and if Hereford want to get their season back on track, it must start against high-flying Macclesfield at home on Tuesday. A big ask when while there is fight and endeavour, quality and intelligence are lacking.
Hereford: Richardson, Skinner, Howkins, Preston (Parker 46), Hudson (Nto 70), Mafuta (Cooper 46), D'Ath (Hamilton 70), Sterling-James, Campbell, Osborne, McFarlane (Williams 56).
Subs not used: Quansah, Edwards.
Southport: Renshaw; Edwards, Moore, Keane, Minihan; Lloyd (Dwyer 40, Tabone 90+5), Griffiths, Lavelle, Slew (Murphy-Worrell 62, Pickles 90); Hilton, Thibaut (Touray 56).
Subs not used: McMillan, Tabone, Simms.
