Hereford visited Heybridge Swifts in the FA Trophy for the first time ever. Heybridge in Estuary Essex have made considerable improvements to their ground since I last visited thirty years ago. Black is the predominant colour and the impressive bar, cover and care of the stadium shows a club on the up. Heybridge are two divisions below Hereford.
Hereford set up with Wade in goal, Mark Derricott came in to start at right back. Amadi-Holloway had COVID so Thompson paired with Pendley. Rowe had a hamstring problem. Josh signed Kody Maude from Gibraltar to play left back. Hanson and captain Haines sat with Pinchard, Caton and Storey behind Barnett. On the bench were goalkeeper Osment, Campbell and new faces Groves, Davies, Bennett and Johnstone. The crowd was 474 with about 50 Bulls fans.
Maude was to make probably the worst debut performance in the history of Hereford FC. The 3G plastic pitch was only installed last year had plenty of bounce and was in good condition allowing a true run of the ball. Heybridge started the brighter and right winger Rob Harvey tormented Maude. Signed from Brentwood who he helped into the play offs last season. Swift Harvey has Heybridge chasing promotion too. Quick and with a good first touch he went past Maude time after time and put in a succession of crosses.
Hereford attempted to break and find Storey, Phillips made himself large to ensure a handball and correctly collected a yellow. It was good to see an early yellow awarded.
Phillips knew he had no chance in a foot race. Hereford were struggling to get in behind, whilst Heybridge were doing so with ease. Impressive centre forward Wall complained about a lack of quality at times but kept on encouraging players and his movement allowed the Swifts to keep opening up the Bulls. By contrast Barnett grew frustrated as he came deep and took the chance to turn the ball around the corner and produce clever sharp passes only to find colleagues on their heels and not anticipating opportunities to attack.
Swifts were prepared to fail but the Bulls failed to prepare and underestimated the dynamism of a team high on confidence averaging more than two goals a game.
Harvey had put in crosses to the far post and and the middle. Thompson was not coming across to help new boy Maude and this time Harvey won a corner. Sartain crossed and the ball was headed clear by Caton. The Bulls defence was disorganised and nobody picked up Sartain. Having won the header Caton was left to chase out and close down, but this left space and time for Sartain to clip in a chip to the near post.
Wall lost Haines to glance in the goal his all round play deserved. Harvey was burning Maude for pace. When Maude tried to grab Harvey’s shirt as he went past him yet again the linesman flagged. Harvey though just kept on powering through to put in yet another cross brushing off Maude with ease the referee playing advantage. Maude could not even foul effectively.
This was the worst performance I have seen at full back since a rotund and possibly post celebration Andy Llewellyn contributed to Mansfield sticking 7 past the Bulls on Boxing Day 1995. Maude kept trying but he was clearly out of his depth and playing on the left preferred his right foot. When he tried to attack he was tentative and at one stage given an easy pass he could not control it well enough and Harvey pressed and nicked the ball surging away yet again. Christmas came early for Harvey.
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| Was Derricott Brought Down - The Referee Said No |
At half-time Hereford had barely threatened and Swifts could easily have gone in with a greater lead. Gowling adjusted the defence to play a higher line with a sharp offside trap. This caught the Swifts a few times.
Derricott started well with a very neat, sharp turn and put some decent balls forward. However as his full debut progressed he was increasingly targeted for some physical challenges and came off worse. On the hour Mark tried to take the ball down the touch line but he was outmuscled and Wall won possession. He turned and threaded a ball through to Henry who fired across Brad into the far side netting.
Wall was combative and was booked. He then appeared to score again but thankfully it was offside. Heybridge manager Tilson took off the combative Carter who was heading for a booking and brought on Noble.
Hereford chased the game. Thompson was increasingly advancing and trying to stride forward and create. He crossed the half way line and fired a pass to Barnett which did not stick. Sartain picking up the ball knew by now the vulnerability of Maude, he turned and floated the pass of the day in behind. Harvey delighted, dashed past Maude. Haines was outpaced too. Harvey slowed entering the box and Maude caught up as Harvey rocketed in off the underside of the bar at the near post giving Wade no chance.
Finally Gowling recognised that Maude was being mauled and brought him off with Campbell replacing him. Too late the game was lost. Heybridge took off Jones and brought on Adlington, and then switched Fennell for Henry.
Haines is out of form. His shooting radar is awry and his passing inconsistent. He complained repeatedly to the referee, becoming increasingly frustrated. A push on Barnett in the box was probably a penalty. Luke yet again lost control and talked himself into a booking. Suspended once already this season he may be the Hereford FC player with the highest ratio of bookings per minutes played. I would not mind if he exacted some retribution on players challenging Derricott and stood up for a mate. Maude struggling on debut needed a tactical foul or two on Harvey from Luke to help him. A better calmer leader would have done this and organised others to assist with fouls in rotation.
Referee Parkinson tried to calm him down but Luke got angrier and angrier. There were some poor decisions but both Heybridge bookings could have been let go by another official. Gowling seeing Luke losing control towards the end took him off and brought on Davies.
I do not think Haines realises the reputation he is getting amongst officials and also how his conduct affects others. Storey started moaning too. The Bulls needed actions not words. The referee warned both Miles and Luke that he was being nice by not booking them as they pushed their verbals to the limit. Again Hodgkiss was missed with his ability to manage a referee.
It would be unfair to put the responsibility for this loss on Maude. The responsibility belongs with Gowling. Like so many Gowling signings Rowe has picked up an injury and cannot play after only two games.
Gowling signed Maude. The football standard in Gibraltar (population 30,000) is not high. Worse by making yet another signing Gowling sends a message that he does not trust his squad players. Jethro dropped in to cover at full back when players advanced and he could have played there with Klukowski in midfield. Harrison Summers and Justice Campbell would both have been better options. What does it say that Josh does not trust them to start against opponents from a standard of football which both have played at previously? Campbell had a good cameo when he came on always looking to play progressively and he almost wriggled past two defenders and into the box as he ran at Heybridge.
In his post match interview Josh said he would talk money and new players. Some thoughts. Josh is on two or three times the money of some other managers in the division why is he not outperforming them? Klukowski is paid more than some managers where is the added value? Last season at 38 Mike Williamson played for champions Gateshead. Curtis plays at centre back for Spennymoor is 40. In previous injury crises manager Ian Bowyer came out of retirement. Why didn’t Gowling register himself? Playing with a three at the back he would have been better than Maude. Hereford went to 3-4-3 after the third goal and Derricott looked more comfortable on the right side of this formation. Gowling could have saved money and added leadership on the pitch.
Graham Turner would have sold a player to raise funds. So often he did this and other clubs in National League North regularly sell. Josh is coming up for his third anniversary in January. He makes much of his ability to develop players and especially with defenders he has improved several. However one of his responsibilities as manager is to be able to monetise this. It’s a win win. Players want to come to clubs which will develop them so they play at a higher level and the funds improve the team.
When Gowling speaks with Chairman Hale they should be looking at why Scarborough, Southport, Chorley, Peterborough Sports, Banbury, Gloucester, Alfreton and Leamington all above Hereford in the table are able to do better with lesser budgets. This is the third year of teams with smaller budgets doing better. Smaller better managed teams make the play offs. In any other business it would be a question of why the manager is unable to run their budget better. Hereford have more back room staff than most clubs at this level, what is the added value they are providing? Would that budget area be better spent on players?
Fans are increasingly fed up with the constant moan for more money when so much money has been spent so poorly already. Brentwood Bull said before the game that Harvey was known to be a danger man well regarded in Essex and Gowling failed to prepare for him.
Hereford lost this game because Gowling signed Rowe who quickly got injured. He then signed a player who was not good enough and did not trust players he has paid wages to without starting for many months to play. Why are they being paid if they are not seen as good enough to start? Josh appeared to make a negotiating gesture for more money by putting youngsters on the bench when Klukowski could have been available and able to come on. Klukowski is probably the best paid player per minute played in the history of Hereford FC.
A Leominster Bull who has watched for more than half a century was begging not for a consolation goal but a consolation corner so poor were the Bulls in the second half. Like him I am frustrated and it is time Gowling started owning his errors and not blaming others. He signed a player who was not good enough, impressive Heybridge ruthlessly exploited this and Gowling failed to substitute him until the game was gone and thousands of FA Trophy prize money was disappearing as the sun went down.