Tomorrow sees Hereford FC given yet another opportunity to prove that they’re better than the strugglers around them at the foot of the National League North table, as they travel to Manchester to play familiar opponents FC United. Finally perhaps this time that opportunity will be grasped with both feet and an away win will result.
As feared, James Waite’s
absence a fortnight ago against an Ashton United team with a penchant this
season for conceding goals for fun resulted in Hereford failing to score. With
the Cardiff loanee sitting out the second match of a three-game ban tomorrow,
the Bulls will have to find a goal from somewhere to pull away from the relegation zone, and cast FCUM further adrift. With
George Lloyd back at parent club Cheltenham Town as they weather an injury
crisis, Hereford will have fewer options than normal up front, as hard as that is to
believe possible.
The ‘new’ management team have
now had half a season of league games in charge, and of those 21 games five
have been won, 26 points have been earned, and, tellingly, just 26 goals have
been scored. You’d have a hard job spinning those figures as anything other
than a disappointing outcome from the decision to change managerial horses in
mid-stream. Whatever happens in the summer, it will be vital for someone of
importance at the club to state that the ambition is still there, and hasn’t
been diluted to the extent that averaging 50-odd points a season and thus just
about staying safe can now be judged a success as it would at, say, Gloucester City. At a club with the resources of
Hereford FC it cannot. The effect on season ticket sales in the absence of a
dynamic statement of intent doesn’t bear thinking about.
This will be the third
meeting of these clubs this season, with a 3-1 win apiece to date. FCUM cruised
past a rudderless home team in the league in November before a fortnight later
the Bulls put United out of the Trophy, embarking on a three-match winning run
in the process, which proved to be a false dawn in terms of
turning the season into something resembling a success.
Since then, FCUM have
struggled, with two points from their last five matches, although they’re now
unbeaten in two, and sit nine points beneath Hereford in 23rd place. Relegation looks
likely, but manager Neil Reynolds has been making all the right noises this
week about going for the win and putting the Bulls under pressure in the process, taking heart and encouragement from having arrested their losing run with those two
recent draws.
Hereford go into this one
unbeaten away from home since the loss to Kidderminster on New Year’s Day,
winning two and drawing three, but an inability to beat teams around them in
the table sees them still deep in the mire.
James Wesolowski could be back in contention for a starting place, having played just 15 minutes for the club in three months to date. Whether, during the course of the rest of the season, he proves to be a valuable experienced and calm head in centre midfield or the biggest recruitment ricket, on the playing side at least, in Hereford FC's four-year history, remains to be seen. Unfortunately, his natural position isn't the part of the squad in most urgent need of bolstering. Perhaps he could, if fit, improvise in attack somehow, where there's definitely a situation vacant. He's certainly the right height at 5' 6" to be considered a Harris/Richards striker. Anyway, seriously, it would be good to see him get through an hour or so, both for the club's sake and that of his career.
James Wesolowski could be back in contention for a starting place, having played just 15 minutes for the club in three months to date. Whether, during the course of the rest of the season, he proves to be a valuable experienced and calm head in centre midfield or the biggest recruitment ricket, on the playing side at least, in Hereford FC's four-year history, remains to be seen. Unfortunately, his natural position isn't the part of the squad in most urgent need of bolstering. Perhaps he could, if fit, improvise in attack somehow, where there's definitely a situation vacant. He's certainly the right height at 5' 6" to be considered a Harris/Richards striker. Anyway, seriously, it would be good to see him get through an hour or so, both for the club's sake and that of his career.
It’s not easy to be optimistic
about this one given the lack of a goal threat, and a vague perception that
those in charge consider not losing to be good enough in these six-pointers.
It’s not a footballing philosophy that would be shared by too many paying
punters who still believe that the club has the potential to compete at the
other end of the division, and with Ashton’s impressive win at Chorley on
Saturday it’s a philosophy that sees the Bulls still in danger, just five
points clear of the drop zone. Fortunately, Ashton then lost in midweek at home to Kidderminster, and have therefore now played a game more than Hereford, but to be hungrily nibbling at these crumbs of comfort seems all wrong. OK, no club has a God-given right to be anywhere other than where their results have placed them, but this season sags heavily with a sense of underachievement and anticlimax.
A victory would
crank up the likelihood that Hereford FC will be competing in National League North next
season, although it may have to be an own goal that wins it. Sign of the times.
COYW