Text at top (next game etc)

Next Game: Rushall At Home In The League On Saturday 30th November At 3.00pm

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Harris 'Delighted' With Performance Against Telford


Head of football and currently interim manager Tim Harris said he was delighted with Hereford's performance against Telford last night.

Former head coach Marc Richards left the club on Monday and in his post match interview Harris said he was uncertain how the players would respond.

"I think it's always difficult because you never know how the players are going to respond," said Harris. 

"Delighted with the performance, I thought they put a real shift in and it was a great effort.

"There were a couple of things that worried me a little bit especially towards the end of the game.

"I just had a flash back to that Altrincham game last year when we were 1-0 up and we gave a free kick away in a dangerous area and they scored and we ended up only getting a point instead of three.

"But I think we deserved the three points today and I thought there were some really good performances out there.

"When you are in a situation like what's happened over the last few days they have to look at themselves and they have to ask themselves what do they want out of the game, this is a big club with a great fan base, very demanding.

"Everybody saw today that there was a lot of passion out there, there was a lot of committed performances and I must mention Josh Gowling, Jared Hodgkiss and Martin Riley because they've been superb, they are experienced lads, they know what the football is about and they've been through situations like this before.

"They've really helped gel the lads and made them get their focus on the job today.

"You can never tell if that is going to happen until they get out on the pitch.

"At the end of the day the important thing at this present moment in time is we pick up results then the rest will take care of itself.

"I thought Bradley Ash was excellent, never stopped running but in honesty there were some great performances. Simeon May, first game, I thought he showed us what he is all about.

"Someone has to be man of the match but to be fair it was a great team performance. The save from Brandon Hall has earned us three points so everyone has done their job today."

Mention was made of playing a back four.

"I think that we've seen in the last couple of games that things have not really worked with three at the back and knowing what Telford are about, seeing how they line up,  we thought we could exploit them with three up front and I thought Rowan, Simo and Brad did a great job in putting their back three under pressure.

"I suppose if I'm disappointed I would have liked to have scored another goal but if someone had said to me this morning that we're going to be stood here with three points and we won 1-0 and got a clean sheet then we're not going to complain under the current circumstances."

Harris said the team would travel up towards Blyth Spartans on Friday.

"We'll prepare as they've been prepared all season. Nothing changes. They've got to keep their focus.

"There is some talent in this squad and we can't get carried away. We done a half decent performance against Spennymoor, a good side, then we fell away a little bit with the Gloucester thing and certainly again on Saturday when we looked certainly well below par."

Players out?

"Styche, I'm told it's not as bad as first feared so we're hoping he might be available for Saturday. 

"Raheem hasn't played a lot of football and he's got a slight strain and I just felt we needed to be solid and we went with a back four and just felt with Jared's experience it would be solid and also give Raheem time to settle his little niggle down because he's not played a lot of football.

"Eight games in August is a lot so it's important that we look after certain players."

Harris played three up front.

"I think that's what the crowd want to see so if that is the way that gets us results then we'll do whatever is neccessary but the import thing is that we keep our feet firmly on the ground.

"It's big club and the demands of the fans but we have to be realistic, we are where we are and we got to just steadily grow and develope the squad we've put together."

The interview turned to Marc Richards, the now former head coach.

"Look the decision has been made, we can't change that, the decision has been made.

"Obviously I've worked with Mark over the years and he is a first class coach and I'm sure that he will bounce back.

"He's a great lad and there isn't one player in that dressing room that doesn't like Marc Richards. He is a good lad.

"Sadly it's not worked out and we have to move on."