Son of Eric made the long trip to Spennymoor yesterday.
What impressive changes Spennymoor have made to their ground. Outside there is a wall with a series of massive posters highlighting great players and their achievements. Inside they have created two covered fan zones to come early and have a drink and put monies into the club. The whole ground has been sharpened up with much tying up of colour schemes and identity. As Spennymoor play in black and white there are a few ideas which Hereford could replicate. The food areas have improved their offering but remain competitively priced with many extras including jalapenos on offer to be added to your burger or hot dog. The fans have responded with increased numbers and the ten pounds admission (five pounds concessions) must also help in these difficult economic times. The club are clearly moving very much in the right direction and were proud that they had recently hosted an England schoolboy international against Scotland. Deserved recognition for all the improvements and investment.
Visitors were greeted by the town brass band who also entertained at half time on a sunny day with an end of season feeling which turned almost bitter at the end. Hereford played perhaps their most attacking team all season as it was win or bust time. Hall in goal, captain Hodgkiss, Pollock, Egan, and Revan in defence. Haines and Lloyd holding, Storey, Owen-Evans, and Pinchard behind Wright. Pearce was out of the squad with Patten, Touray, Vincent, Njie, and Klukowski meaning the bench had no defensive players. Hereford started brightly and after his recent injury the 55 Hereford fans in a crowd of 1294 were delighted to see Miles looking so sharp and running at the Spennymoor backline. Hereford were unable to turn good, dominant possession into chances it was twenty minutes before Wright got a weak header on target.
Spennymoor’s Oyibo appeared to pull a muscle and he was substituted for Spokes. Spennymoor centre backs Tait and captain Curtis were both unimpressed by their team mates further up the pitch vocally demanding more intensity. Pinchard was gliding around and Spennymoor started to clatter him with referee Brown taking a relaxed approach to physicality. Pinchard swung in a lovely free kick which Ben got a good head on Amissah moving sharply to push round the post. If I could sign one striker in this division it would be the consistently prolific Glen Taylor who has done well against the Bulls. However, he’s also a teacher in Darlington so any package Hereford could offer would require aid from an educational establishment! Having been kept quiet a pass by Spokes found him on the edge of the box and from nothing it was a touch and a shot to warm the hands of Hall. That ability to get strikes in on goal has been one of Hereford’s biggest weaknesses this season.
Hereford continued to have most of the possession but were unable to create chances and gradually Spennymoor were coming back into the game firing in long range speculative efforts which did not trouble Brandon. Anybody who has watched the Salford documentary will know what a pair of charmers’ joint managers Johnson and Morley are. Johnson spent much of the first half criticising his players and demanding more. In his post-match interview Morley said that the key moment was the “bollocking at half time” which was given to the Moors’ players.
Hereford failed to get the lead at half time they deserved, and the second half had an all too familiar feel to it. Hereford played the prettier football. Spennymoor played the more effective football. A lovely Pinchard ball freed Revan and he rampaged forward into the box hitting hard and low, but the ball deflected off the outside of the post. Hopefully he will soon get a goal for all his outstanding attacking play which he continued in this game.
Then came the quality moment of the match a high back post cross saw Taylor head down powerfully and Hall somehow diving backwards get a strong hand to push a ball which seemed to be in the net round the post. Wonderful echoes of Banks saving from Pele. Spennymoor started to pin Hereford back sensing Revan’s threat they doubled up on him and asked lots of defensive questions, they also consistently hit deeper crosses. As the bigger team they tried to get challenges against Hereford’s smaller full backs with Pollock and Egan dealing well with central balls. A smart tactical adjustment.
A quick break from the back saw Revan feed Owen-Evans and he raced through into the Moors half. Tom was bearing in on goal and about to strike as he came to the box when left back Hall caught up with him and slid in for a sensational tackle. Hall looked an impressive player. The game was opening up as both sides knew a draw was not good enough if they were to make the play offs. A Pye corner found Richardson and Hall pulled off yet another smart save. Spennymoor brought on Andersen for Chandler. A cross from Hall found Taylor who powered down a header, Hall did well to get to it and palmed it away, but co-striker Thewlis reacted first to take the lead.
Wright had got into a contretemps and had pushed Curtis away, appearing to raise his hands. He angrily complained to referee Brown about some mark on his side, but it was surprising that he did not see yellow. It therefore seemed anomalous that the referee then booked both Curtis and Thewlis for wildly but reasonably celebrating their goal. On a booking Spennymoor wanted to ensure Thewlis was available for their final two games and promptly substituted him for Preston.
Gowling seeing the season fade away acted. Storey had done well coming back from injury and was tiring but surprisingly stayed on. Vincent came on for Pinchard and Klukowski replaced Wright. Gowling made much of how he had been tracking Momodou Touray when he signed him, and in this match demonstrated how disappointed he must be with Touray’s impact. Touray stayed on the bench. First Haines was put up front and then Klukowski. Both had a bit of argy bargy with the unrelenting Spennymoor centre backs and the referee was tolerant of contact which elsewhere on the pitch would surely have seen a foul or two won for Hereford. Neither Luke or Jan made an impact and Touray finally came on for Lloyd when the board with extra minutes was put up. Haines went back to make a three-man defence with five in midfield and Tom and Jan as dual strikers.
Spennymoor still looked more likely Hall regularly getting down the flanks. One of his crosses saw another superb Taylor header foiled by Hall. In the end Spennymoor probably deserved to win by another goal as they appeared to be able to get chances on target at will unlike Hereford. Brandon Hall had a very impressive game making one superb save and several very good ones, he was helpless for the goal. Very much the man of the match.
In many ways this was a typical Hereford performance this season. The team played well defensively and kept the opposition down to one goal. Gowling set his team up well and got the initiative. When the opposition adjusted, and adapted Hereford were unable to respond as effectively despite their best efforts. The team dominated a whole half of football but were unable to convert superiority into goals. It was striking in the first half how many Spennymoor players were unaccepting of indifferent performances by colleagues and demanded more. Spennymoor had more leaders on the pitch than Hereford.
Spennymoor go into the final week with a chance of the play offs and Hereford are out. In the remaining games it would be good to see younger players like Morris, Campbell and Fitzpatrick at least given a chance on the bench and some of the more experienced players could be allowed an early summer rest. Too many of the higher paid senior players have not consistently produced for Hereford this season and new players will be required. Hodgkiss is an effective leader, but next season could be the opportunity to transition captaincy to Pollock who will surely be player of the season. His transformation demonstrates what an excellent defensive coach Gowling is.
This is a team which defends well and can press effectively,
but until it finds a more effective cutting edge it will not score the
number of goals required to compete at the top end of the table.