Dry January

Hereford FC travel sideways on Tuesday as they head east to Peterborough, a sideways move that really needs to result in an upwards trajectory if the play-offs aren’t to disappear into the sunset.

Results on Saturday broadly suggested once again that there’s only a fag paper’s width in quality between virtually all of the clubs in the division, and ensured that the damage of the Bulls’ loss to lowly Radcliffe was minimised. That said, they’re now five points behind Darlington, who now occupy the final play-off place, and suddenly there’s quite a gap to everyone north of that.

Paul Caddis has stated that several big lumpy men will be coming in. One in defence, one in midfield and one up front would do nicely, with any more than that starting to resemble an Alfreton tribute act, and no-one wants that.

The technical players, which the squad has never been short of and has arguably been too full of, can then hopefully profit from the presence of the new spoilers by using the space and fear they create wherever they lumber about, making the ground shake beneath their feet as they do so.

Peterborough are now in their third season in the National League North, and thus far have belied their relative lack of financial muscle in achieving mid-table finishes in both of their first two seasons. Each of those finishes was assisted to the tune of three points by a pair of 1-0 wins at Edgar Street. That jinx was partially broken with a 1-1 draw when these sides met at Bulls HQ in August. In that game, co-manager Michael Gash was superb at the back, marshalling the defence with some aplomb, and overseeing a robustly physical approach and a fair bit of falling over with one eye on the clock. One player looked like his brain had exploded at one point, before he promptly got back up and played on having satisfied himself that his conning of the referee had served its purpose.

One of their main threats, Dion Sembie-Ferris, along with another important player Dan Lawlor, were sold in November to Spalding, a club now managed by ex-Turbines and Scunthorpe boss Jimmy Dean. It’s to the club’s credit that they’ve not only weathered those losses, but kicked on up the table since their departure.

Pacy striker Michael Gyasi will keep the Hereford defence busy, and he’s managed seven goals this season. Attacking midfielder Dan Jarvis has six, and ex-Darlington winger Kaine Felix has four.

I was hoping loanee defender MJ Kamson-Kamara would possibly mark DJ Campton-Sturridge in a syllable mega-mash-up, but he hasn’t been playing for a while.

The hosts, unlike the visitors, are in fine form, having won three of their last four. That run has seen them draw level on points with Hereford having played a game more. On Saturday, they impressively beat Kings Lynn 3-1 at home in a derby game that saw Sports also miss a penalty, and Gash reportedly again leading superbly by example. It’s to be assumed that he’s just the sort of player Paul Caddis is referring to when talking about ‘men’, although a man ten years younger that Gash would be preferrable.

They’re not the most prolific at home, having managed just 14 goals in 12 games.

The Bulls travel knowing how important a win would be here to steady the ship. Andy Williams showed that he, along with Yusifu Ceesay, is currently the most reliable goal threat at the club on Saturday, but can he manage the best part of 200 minutes of football in four days? Hopefully he can play some part.

Matt Preston looks like he’ll be out for a while, although one of the players Caddis is looking to bring in to add ‘presence’ and take away some of the ‘niceness’ is reportedly a centre back, and that deal could be done in time for this game. This will have the added benefits of shifting Ryan Bartley out to his favoured position of right back and allowing Sammy Robinson to move from right back into a central screening role in midfield. Keith Hicks was at last Saturday’s game – he certainly added presence in the middle of defence when he played, and could possibly still do a job. Whether Keith is that player-in-waiting remains to be seen.

Things are obviously not working currently in the Hereford camp, and a half-baked theory I raised at the start of the month suggesting that this month’s fixtures looked easy-peasy now looks not so much half-baked as raw, which is also how fans are feeling, and actually how Paul Caddis is sounding. In terms of wins it’s been very much a dry January.

However, a move to add steel, muscle, nous and menace to the technical ability that already exists looks like a good idea to me. Hereford FC 2024/25 2.0 begins here.

COYW