Disappointment with playing surface

In his weekly column in the Hereford Times, Graham Turner looks forward to Saturday.

"And now to Leicester," said the Hereford United manager.

"Again it will come down to who handles the situation the better.

"In getting through to the final, Halifax have proved that they are a decent team but so, too, have we - and over three seasons as well.

"I don't think the place has buzzed so much in my 11 years here. Even by Monday you couldn't book a coach for miles around. People are booking up to 50 tickets at a time for coachloads of supporters and we would hope to have a following of about 10,000 there.

"The Walkers Stadium is an excellent venue for the final - apart from the playing surface which I was ever so disappointed with. That's not being critical of the groundspeople up at Leicester but there have been over 20 games on it in the last month.

"The prize at stake is a massive one - after nine years in the Conferennce, we are within touching distance of that prize."

---