Hereford FC’s busy current
schedule continues as they host lowly Chorley at Edgar Street on Saturday, kick
off 3pm.
The feisty midweek defeat to high-flying Gloucester made it two losses in two home games so far this season. In terms of making Edgar Street an intimidating place for away teams to visit, it’s more flaccid bouncy castle than scary fortress at the moment, but that can all change in the blink of an eye, assuming that the blink takes 90 minutes, which I suppose is more a nap than a blink.
That turnaround in fortunes can start here, against an away team that has propped up the table all season until an likely win at Telford in midweek lifted them above Kettering.
Josh Gowling’s anger at losing against Gloucester was good to see, and if he’s expressing it in public the players are presumably getting the full hairdryer in the dressing room too, and if so they’ll be keen to put things right here to avoid it all getting shouty again.
The Magpies have had an eventful few years, getting promoted from National League North two seasons ago via the play-offs, only to then finish bottom of National League Premier in 2019/20, and now looking like contenders to repeat the trick, currently sitting second bottom of the NLN.
In that promotion season,
Chorley left it late to beat the Bulls 1-0 at home, before a certain J. Gowling
struck late to cancel out a Josh ‘The Ghost’ O’Keefe goal in a 1-1 draw at
Edgar Street. O’Keefe has now retired, so the virtual inevitability of him
scoring in this one is no longer inevitable. In fact it’s impossible, which is much better.
Chorley have had an atrocious start, losing four of their six league games before the recent upturn, but that league form contrasts sharply with their exploits in the FA Cup. Remarkably, they’re still in the competition, and travel to Peterborough for a second round match next weekend, having dumped 2013 winners Wigan out in the previous round. Adam Henley and Will Tomlinson have joined the club in time for this match. Henley made nearly 100 appearances for Blackburn at Premier League and Championship level, and Tomlinson was with Mansfield last season.
For the hosts, Yan Klukowski looks a doubtful starter after picking up a knock in midweek. With Luke Haines back at parent club Swindon, Ben Pollock absent on Tuesday, and Andrai Jones no longer around, midfield options are slightly more limited than they might have been, but Giles Coke could come in for his first start for the club, and newcomer Richard Whittingham may join him. Despite sounding a bit like an estate agent partial to a knitted tank top, Whittingham’s energy could liven things up in the middle of the park.
As for Coke, his CV suggests that he should be an influential member of the team this season, and although that hasn’t been the case yet any shortage of numbers in midfield could be the chance he needs to cement his place in the side and start creating chances for the front two. Luckily, one first-choice midfield player who will be available is Tom Owen-Evans, who has been alone in sharing goalscoring duties with Lenell John-Lewis in league matches so far this season, and whose suspension after a somewhat soft pair of yellow cards on Tuesday doesn’t kick in until next Saturday.
Up front, with the feeling that The Shop, if fit and firing, won’t go too many games this season without scoring, and strike partner Kelsey Mooney yet to find the net, surely the omens are good that one or both of them can do the business here, just in terms of the law of averages if nothing else. Apologies if this sounds slightly straw-clutching.
Despite Chorley’s midweek victory, this looks like an excellent opportunity to get a first home win, although I may have said precisely that ahead of the Bradford game. However, there’s a lingering feeling that the league table could be fibbing a little in terms of Chorley’s position, and those two players they’ve brought in look to be proper quality with decent pedigrees.
COYW