Hereford FC entertain Altrincham at Edgar Street tomorrow, 3pm kick off, in what many will see as a must-win match for the home side.
New head coach Marc Richards has masterminded a return of two points from his first three league games in charge. Admittedly these have all been away from home against strong opposition, and there were positives to be taken from each match, but it's hardly a start to his tenure to set pulses racing. Another battling draw played mostly in our own half won't cut the mustard this time around, and a loss doesn't bear thinking about.
Richards
has commented on the travelling support following the club in those three matches, and the noise they generate. He'll realise that
this is a following he's inherited, of course, not earned, and it's a following who will start to question the club's direction with too many more men-behind-the-ball defensive draws. Hereford FC isn't Gloucester City, with due respect to the Tigers.
Head of football (still not entirely sure what that means) Tim Harris has reportedly suggested a need for the team to set up to be 'tough to beat'. Common sense on first glance of course, but, as everyone knows, this is straight from the first chapter of the Martin Foyle playbook, along with hitting the channels early and playing the percentages. Supporters will recall how this looked on the pitch, and it wasn't pretty. Let's hope the others in the management team (the head of performance analysis and the head of not being a very good striker) like a team to attack like crazy to give a bit of balance to the club's footballing ethos on that heavily populated HFC bench.
Thinking more positively, and leaving aside the frankly unforgivably bad defending for two of Boston's goals, there's evidence of late to suggest improvement is in the offing. George Lloyd and James Roberts up front look lively and potent, new midfielders Tommy O'Sullivan and Tom Owen-Evans bring better quality and more creativity to the team, with Kyle Finn also challenging for a place in midfield having come in from Coventry on an initial one-month loan. There also seems to be a togetherness to the group, a feeling that, despite some batterings recently, they still 'bullieve'. This surely reflects a galvanising influence from Richards behind the scenes, and possibly the self-belief and determination in his own personality which comes through in his musings to the media.
It's also been the case recently that players are virtually having to learn each others' games in matches. Having had a training session yesterday to further develop the understanding that's been evolving on the pitch, further improvement can surely be anticipated.
Also, having played all of the top eight apart from Kiddy so far, there's a relatively winnable look to the fixtures between now and Christmas.
Since getting promoted last season Alty, that grande dame of the non-league scene, found life difficult at first, but things have now settled down, with the team winning four of their last five games, and now sit just three points outside the play-off positions in ninth place. So, it's not going to be easy, but the Bulls really do need to win this one. A big crowd fully behind the team and management would help massively.
COYW