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Star striker Glen Taylor is unusually having a relatively quiet season for Moors so far, with eight league goals to his name, whereas usually he’d expect to be approaching double that in December. It’s presumably not a coincidence that Taylor’s form accompanies his club’s unusually lowly league position. They sit in 18th place, three places below Hereford having played a game more, and are just three points above the relegation places.
Usually very strong at home, they’ve lost as many as they’ve won at the Brewery Field so far this season. On Tuesday they beat Boston there 3-2, although rather wonderfully the Pilgrims still haven’t really got started yet. To put things into perspective and before someone inevitably suggests that ‘it’s a tough pace to go’, Buxton won there and Telford drew, so in terms of tough places to go it’s hardly Anfield, or your in-laws’ house for Christmas.
Centre backs James Curtis and Joe Tait will attempt to manage the referee if they feel the need, and did so to a thoroughly unsavoury and intimidatory extent at Edgar Street in August. As ever, it’s probably too much to ask for the ref to stand up to the bullies with red cards if they take it to such extremes. These sides shared the spoils on the opening day of the season in that match with an entertaining if defensively shambolic 3-3 draw on a beautiful Edgar Street summer’s day. Weather conditions will be very different this time, and hopefully so will the defending.
Like Fylde, Spennymoor aspire to become a Football League club in the near future, with money available behind the scenes to assist them in that ambition. Since ascending to the National League North in 2017, they haven’t finished outside the top eight in seasons actually completed, and competed in the play-offs in 2018/19. Like Hereford, they’ve got a bit of a job on their hands if they’re to enjoy a successful season this time though, given the start they’ve made.
Chorley manager Andy Preece was full of praise for the Bulls after that Tuesday night draw, confident that they would be in the play-offs at the end of the season. On current evidence, at least in terms of results, that would appear to be optimistic, but it makes more sense when considering that he would have been very impressed by Jack Holmes, Marco Rus and James Melhado. Extensions to the month-long loans deals for those latter two are hopefully being negotiated. If Holmes can consistently do some of the magical and incisive things he was doing against Chorley, and add an end product, brighter times are undoubtedly ahead.
There was enough evidence on Tuesday to suggest that it could all click at last here, but chances will have to be taken when they’re created. The aforementioned three youngsters are talented players, and their quality will surely tell soon in terms of actually winning a game of football. The Brewery Field playing surface is usually a good one, and should suit those three more than some of the lumpy-bumpy-boggy pitches elsewhere.
Apart from a glaring miss against Chorley, Kane Thompson-Sommers is playing well and is an enjoyable player to watch when on song, Jack Evans continues to be one of the stars of the season so far, Jordon Thompson seems to be getting stronger, and Ryan McLean occasionally scared the pants off the Chorley defenders on Tuesday night. Hopefully there will be much more of that pants-off action on Saturday as he gets back up to express pace following suspension. I’m not entirely sure how I’ve managed to get the phrase ‘pants-off action’ into a HFC match preview.
When you break things down, it’s baffling really why this side isn’t doing better, and it’s a squad Ryan Lloyd and Aaron Amadi-Holloway are very close to making a return to, perhaps as subs on Saturday. With the Saturday-Tuesday match slog currently in full swing, it would be surprising if Ty Barnett is able to play all of every game up to Christmas. With that in mind, if AAH hasn’t regained fitness the starting XI looks very light up top. Playing without a striker was the approach used in the Peterborough Sports game, which was like watching paint dry whilst being impaled on a spike. All that is to say that it’s imperative that AAH is somehow kept fit up to and over Christmas. The club has gambled in going into the season with a pair of strikers who were never going to be ever-presents throughout the season, with a third who isn’t considered good enough to be brought back from being loaned out.
However, maybe Andy Preece was right. If so, it would be a good idea to start that climb up the table by winning here. Chester, Southport and Kidderminster follow at Edgar Street after this, and a confidence-giving win against Spennymoor, suggesting that finally things are starting to click, would make those three matches something to really look forward to.
COYW