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Next Game: Marine At Edgar Street On Saturday 9th November At 3.00pm

Friday, September 28, 2018

Match preview - Hereford FC vs Spennymoor Town



So, three 4-3 Houdini acts in eight years. It really isn’t good for your ticker, supporting this football club! But wow…just wow. The adrenaline’s still pumping, and the admiration for that performance is as strong as it was at 10:30pm on Wednesday.

Tomorrow afternoon we’ll see if it really is the springboard everyone’s hoping it’ll be in terms of an upturn in league fortunes. The Bulls host Spennymoor Town at Edgar Street, kick off 3pm, with new head of football Tim Harris finally formally ensconced in the hot seat. The players should therefore be well up for the challenge, knowing the importance of making a good first impression. It’s also safe to assume that the midweek Cup match has given everyone a big confidence boost, even Harry White despite his now long forgiven and forgotten penalty miss!

Given the changes to management teams, squads, starting XIs, benches and formations of late, I won’t bother attempting to guess any of it here ahead of the match. The only things for certain are that the aforementioned Mr Harris will be ‘heading football’ and the bench will have a less youthful look to it. Gareth Davies may or may not be gesticulating wildly like a Radnorshire dervish on the touchline, Ryan Green may be a/ player-managing, b/ just playing or c/ having a rest on the bench, and everything else is up for grabs. It’s all made even more complicated by the fact that Eliot Richards and Calvin Dinsley return from the naughty step after their suspensions, and it would be surprising if Richards at least doesn’t start, but hey, what do I know?

Rumours that Gareth Bale has been given international clearance unusually quickly by the Welsh FA and goes straight into the team are just that, rumours.

Spennymoor face a bit of a trek down from Durham, and with a bit of luck will arrive with the same travel sickness that seemed to afflict the Bulls for the first half hour on Wednesday. Hereford FC’s fortunes against clubs from the northeast have been mixed in its short history so far, with an opening day win against Blyth this season, but that little hiccup down in fancy London against Morpeth is still reasonably fresh in the memory.

Moors have started the season very brightly, and currently sit in fifth place having won four of their last five league games, as opposed to Hereford who’ve lost four of their last five. They did, however, get dumped out of the Cup on Saturday to Witton Albion. They haven’t lost away since 14 August.

Last season they missed out on the final play-off spot to Bradford PA on goal difference, and we know the job Bradford did on the Bulls when they visited Edgar Street a few weeks ago, so despite there being reasons to be positive for the home side, it’s certainly not going to be plain sailing.

A win and a draw from the next two back-to-back fixtures (it’s Chester on Tuesday) would offer reasonable evidence that the rot’s been stopped and the play-off push is back on. If that’s the case, this season could be a very exciting one.

Here’s hoping for a nice, calm, controlled win with no need for dramatic comebacks, for the sake of my heart as much as anything.

COYW