The change in manager made no difference to Hereford’s crowd of 1262 with 24 Merseysiders. With midweek Champions League football soon to return the club needed a win to boost crowds. New manager Yan Klukowski made changes. He went to three at the back with Pendley in the middle, Lilly on the left and Andoh on the right. Assistant manager and skipper Hodgkiss was right wing back with Latty-Fairweather on the left. Hanson and Lloyd were in the middle with Holmes and Pinchard playing off Oppong.
Thompson-Sommers, McLean and Jarvis dropped to the bench joining Derricott and Barnett. It was a cold night with frost throughout the day underneath eastern facing hedgerows. The late postponement at Alvechurch showed how well the ground staff did to get the game on.
The game started evenly but was uninspiring. Hereford struggled to get up the pitch in numbers and Oppong trying valiantly was often isolated. Pinchard’s dead balls were disappointing but the team looked robust with Lloyd and Hanson guarding the defence. For Southport left back Carberry put in a variety of crosses. The Bulls looked more organised with Jared back barking out instructions.
The problem with Hereford’s first half system was that neither Holmes nor Pinchard have the speed nor the physique to get up and support Oppong. As ever most of Southport’s team were six foot plus and dealt comfortably with the aerial threat. When Jack or Harry got some space they did not have the speed to break clear and the wing backs were not getting up often enough to make things happen.
At half term one sage observer wondered if Hereford had switched around recent performances where a lively first half was followed by disappointment after the break. Klukowski and Hodgkiss made changes at half time. It could even be said that for the first time in a very long time they gambled to get a win. They simply got Hodgkiss and Latty-Fairweather to bomb forward as much as possible. Hanson sat a little deeper as an auxiliary defender. It worked. It was a treat.
The Bulls were on the front foot and things clicked. Latty-Fairweather gave right back Quansah a roasting. His speed and skill repeatedly took him past him and it was only the variability of final balls which prevented more goal opportunities. Messi would have struggled to control one thunderbolt cross, Oppong trying unsuccessfully when he could have tried a first time flick or a glance off his heel.
Lloyd was playing lots of good probing forward balls and Holmes was twisting, turning and shooting whenever possible. Many were blocked but he was lively earning the sponsors, Q club sports bar man of the match award. Pendley in the box but with a tight angle tried a Van Basten style finish but the ball was well wide.
The Bulls came out full of spirit and good work by Lloyd saw the ball come to Holmes whose shot was cleared to the left of the box. Andoh was in lots of space and tried to fire into the unguarded net just inside the box.
Unfortunately he hit the post. Southport’s gamesmanship was not to their normal standards but their fouling was persistent and Bainbridge was booked when several others could have been for similar fouls.
Hereford had most of the game and Lloyd struck a thunderbolt which McMillan did well to get fingertips too and push onto the crossbar. Curiously none of his teammates complimented him for this superb save. Southport brought on Woods for Watson. Latty-Fairweather was booked for a soft foul. It seemed as if referee Ricardo was evening things up and the yellow was harsh on Thierry. The Bulls brought on Jarvis for Pinchard and then Barnett for Oppong. These were to be the match winning substitutions. Southport brought on Heath for Walton.
A long high ball was hit to Barnett. He expertly killed it, took a touch and seeing Jarvis breaking behind, Tyrone slipped a delicious ball into his path.
Yan’s man Dan took the ball into the box and just as at Buxton, trying to take the ball around the keeper he was brought down for a clear penalty.
There was only one problem Jarvis was clearly offside but thankfully the assistant got it wrong. A few minutes earlier Latty-Fairweather in a similar position on the left had been given offside wrongly, so perhaps this evened things out.
Barnett stepped up and fired powerfully down the middle. Diving to the right McMillan tried to get back and got a good hand but Tyrone’s force saw the ball loop up and into the net. A lead fully deserved on the balance of second half play.
Ahead Southport needed to press so Holmes was replaced with road runner McLean to sit on the half way line. Holmes took the long way off and was applauded all the way. Southport brought on Munro for Oliver.
The Bulls ran the time down well, McLean almost getting free a couple of times. There was some fine passing play as well as taking it to the corner. Right at the end a combination of McLean and Latty-Fairweather saw the ball fed back in by Lloyd from the corner quadrant. It was intercepted by Doyle but Barnett pressed back and the ball ran free.
Doyle let it run thinking it would go for a goal kick, but Tyrone raced past him and got the ball just as it reached the touch line. He cut back in and feigned to shoot drawing McMillan’s attention. He then fed Lloyd who passed to Jarvis on the right to fire into an empty net. A delightful way to finish the game.
The second half strategy of pushing the wing backs up paid off handsomely. Skipper Hodgkiss returned in style. The wing back system transformed Latty-Fairweather from the weakest defender at Farsley playing out of position on the left, to my man of the match. Aside from many forward raids he recovered once to make a sharp difficult tackle with an attacker breaking free. It was hard to choose a man of the match out of so many good performances. Pendley cruised through the game again, Andoh is quietly efficient and breaks forward the most of the rear trio. Lilly goes from strength to strength.
Hanson is the new Lloyd quietly doing all those little things to make everyone else look good. Lloyd played so many quality forward passes in the second half. Barnett and Jarvis were super subs. Happy days. It is only one game but it was an admirable start from the new management team. They tweaked the team at half time and motivated them to go up a level and were rewarded.