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There's been no news on Josh Gowling’s replacement, so Yan Klukowski can make it a hat-trick of wins under his caretakership here.
Port were surprisingly well behaved when they came down to Edgar Street a few weeks ago, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat in Yan Klukowki’s first game in charge, with the Bulls playing well in the second half. There’s a chance that the yellows have mellowed, but it’s more likely that they were absolutely shattered given that the game was their fifth away match in a row, and that journey on a Tuesday night may understandably have finally done them in, to such an extent that even time wasting was beyond them, let alone thuggery. Such was the challenging nature of that run of away fixtures that I actually found myself feeling sorry for them as the second Hereford goal went in towards the end of the game, following some very tired defending.
Given that they’ll presumably be much fresher for this game, and presumably back to their old game management routine, it’s unlikely that any such similar sympathy will last far into the match.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the Sandgrounders are on an awful run, having lost five of their last eight games, winning just two of their last ten. That said, they are, typically, a tricky proposition on their own patch, having lost just three in 13 at home.
Last time out they lost 1-0 at resurgent Buxton, and on Tuesday they were due to host Spennymoor but the match was postponed due to a ‘boiler failure’. If only Liverpool just down the road had thought of that as a postponement excuse before their humiliation on the same night, although apparently the hosts were happy to go ahead and have cold showers afterwards – it was the softies from Durham who didn’t fancy it. Not sure what their up-from-the-pit-and-into-a-tin-bath-outside forefathers would have made of that.
Southport aren’t prolific scorers having scored the same number of goals this season as Hereford, and their top scorer Jordan Archer has scored as many, nine, as the Bulls leading marksman, Ty Barnett.
Manager Liam Watson is a smart cookie, and will have seen the roasting Thierry Latty-Fairweather gave right back Keenan Quansah in that 2-0 win at Edgar Street. Will he be given that opportunity to redeem himself, or will he be rested? If he plays, it was such an uneven contest between the two of them last time that the Bulls could milk that left flank using those lovely dinked passes of Ryan Lloyd’s inviting TLF to use his pace to get to the pass, beat poor Quansah, and get some crosses in. It would then be nice if there were a few Bulls players in the box waiting to profit, having gambled to get there in the first place. Remember though kids, you can never profit from gambling, not in any real sense.
As for Hereford, well. I’ve mentioned before a Jekyll and Hyde thing about the team this season, but it’s getting ridiculous now. Following last Saturday’s home loss to Curzon Ashton, a game it was more or less impossible to find any silver linings from, the players, with Ryan Lloyd, Aaron Amadi Holloway and Tyrone Barnett returning to the starting XI, left that performance well and truly behind in beating league leaders Fylde away on Tuesday. Of course, there’s little point in reading anything into that as suggestive of a storming end to the season as no-one knows which version of Hereford FC is going to show up at any given time, but surely it must have given the squad a huge shot in the arm ahead of what on paper should be an easier task here. Back-to-back wins within days of each other in Lancashire would be some achievement.
That achievement will be made more achievable if the aforementioned Lloyd, AAH and Barnett made it through Tuesday night smoothly enough to be able to start again here. One observer at Fylde on Tuesday, not normally given to gratuitous hyperbole, suggested that AAH’s performance was the best ever by a Hereford FC player. It was absolutely lovely to see the unbridled joy on the players’ faces when the goals went in, in marked contrast to the scenes at the final whistle last Saturday at Edgar Street.
That Bulls win saw them move a point above Southport in the table, although Saturday’s hosts have two games in hand. Just six points separate Kidderminster in eighth and Buxton in 17th in what is now the traditional National League North mid-table splodge of teams who aren’t really promotion candidates but are capable of doing just enough to steer clear of the trapdoor.
Another chance for a Bulls double then following the second of the season with that glorious defeat of Fylde, and another early goal like Ryan McLean’s on Tuesday against a side that must be low on confidence could take the wind out of the Southport sails. It’s then back to Edgar Street on Tuesday for an entertaining looking encounter with in-form Chester, who very, very rarely lose – a bit like Fylde.
COYW