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It’s back-to-back time again for Hereford FC, and not just back-to-back but back-to-back home games, which may mean that this game against Scarborough is more like a disco as the flashing floodlights do their best to cover 180+ minutes of football in 96 hours. A tall order for those tall but elderly sentinels of the city skyline. If it triggers slinky dancing rather than rugged defending from Kyle Howkins it will offer incontrovertible evidence that it’s time to get the new LED pylons up.
Incidentally, I’d just suggest at this point that rugged defender and possible slinky dancer Kyle Howkins is rapidly becoming my nomination as player of the season, and the sort of player other clubs who have some multi-season squad continuity (often admittedly due to being able to afford that continuity) would build a defence around long term.
For those of you who read the preview to the Chorley game, I’ve proved conclusively that I can’t count to three with regard to the Tate Campbell suspension, but one of the advantages of being hopelessly innumerate is that this is the second time in a few days that I’ve looked forward to his return. He should definitely be lacing his boots for this one, or slipping his boots on, which is probably more likely these days. Maybe ‘football slippers’ might be more descriptive of footwear in the modern game than ‘football boots’.
Anyway, I seem to have suddenly become my dad, so moving on…
As was the case for Hereford last Tuesday, this is a long slog midweek for part-time Scarborough. However, they had to make the same trip last season midweek and looked hugely accomplished at Edgar Street, particularly in midfield, when unluckily losing 3-1 having missed a hatful of chances. Luca Colville, Alex Purver and Lewis Maloney are all talented footballers in the middle of the park. Their goals have come mainly from Dom Tear with seven so far, although three of them came within an hour of the season starting away at Radcliffe, and he's been a bit quiet since.
On Saturday they won 2-1 at bottom-of-the-table Rushall, and given that Olympic have seemingly come apart at the seams it’s hard to read too much into that result other than to suggest that the Seadogs did what they had to do, but only just, with Lewis Maloney scoring the winner in the 89th minute. It’s always foolish to look at form lines for clues in the NLN of course, but that sort of form coupled with the long midweek trip aspect of the game should see them fall short here.
Arguably more impressive was the home win against Brackley last Tuesday. Again it was 2-1, and again a late winner handed Scarborough the points, with the goal coming on 99 minutes. If this one’s still close going into the latter stages of the game the Bulls will therefore have to retain full concentration.
The six points just about earned in those games have seen Tuesday’s visitors climb to 14th in the table, five points behind Hereford, and will have given them some self-belief ahead of this game to counter the debilitating effects of the long journey. Their form on the road is good, having lost just three of 11 games away from Flamingo Land (for the uninitiated that’s where they play, I haven’t just slipped ‘Flamingo Land’ in randomly because I’ve been taking drugs, which I absolutely haven’t).
Another good defensive performance marshalled by Kyle Howkins here would provide the foundations on which to build a match-winning performance. Defensively things are looking very promising in going with a back four rather than a variation on that, not unrelated to the fact that loanee Ryan Bartley is such a solid performer.
Up front, Jason Cowley and Jaiden White continue to look like a lively combination, and Yusifu Ceesay will be looking to score here as he did in this fixture last season, when he finished a lovely sweeping move. His goal on Saturday was more improvisational, but whether sweeping or improvising no-one will mind if he can find the net again.
Sammy Robinson has always looked, since he arrived, like he’d suit the role sitting in as a screening defensive midfielder, and on the evidence of Saturday that could be where he stays for the season. Paul Caddis will now have to figure out how to accommodate the returning Tate Campbell.
This certainly looks to be the easiest of the three upcoming games, with Scunthorpe and Kidderminster to follow, so banking another three points will be important, but really and truly there’s nothing to fear from any other side in the division for two reasons: 1/ it seems to be a poor year for genuine quality across the division, and 2/ this Bulls side is the best that’s been put out onto the pitch over the course of the National League North years. They could win this just because they’re now plain better than Scarborough and most of the division, and if that’s the case consistency will follow, and given point 1 above, so could promotion.
I’d love Big Kyle to do a slinky dance after this in celebration of another fine win. Fingers crossed.
COYW