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Hereford FC go into their final game of the regular season needing to beat Scunthorpe to maximise their chances of edging into the play-offs. Admittedly the play-off picture looked brighter, quite a lot brighter, before Easter Monday, but the position as it stands would probably have been one most fans would have taken before a ball was kicked in August.
Luckily, the fixture is a dead rubber for the visitors given that Brackley will beat Farsley, so it’s the play-offs and no league title for Scunthorpe, and despite what they may say publicly they’ll know it, and may approach this, or at least the second half of it, accordingly.
If the Bulls win bigger than Curzon Ashton they know they’re in the play-offs regardless of what anyone else does. A draw may be enough, but that’s about as likely as the bull in High Town fathering baby bullocks. Even a loss wouldn’t necessarily call time on the season, but that’s another level of unlikely – that’s Hereford-bypass-in-my-lifetime unlikely, and I’m 95 years old. OK, I’m not, but I’m starting to feel like it ahead of this game.
The Iron were very, very good in both matches against Hereford last season, but the 0-0 draw in Lincolnshire between these clubs in December demonstrated the progress that Hereford have made this season. At that time, Scunthorpe sat in third position just a point and two places ahead of Hereford. They’re still in third, but now 11 points and four places ahead of Hereford, and guaranteed a play-off position.
They’re a bit of a ridiculous club at this level. They’re a lot bigger than anyone else, and when they play someone like Needham Market it should be like an under-16 team playing an under-10 team on Widemarsh Common. It hasn’t been that way though, and having to settle for a place in the play-offs will be seen as another failure for a club well used to failure over the last 15 years as they slid down to here from the Championship.
James Dean was offloaded as manager last summer along with a big chunk of the side that fell short last time. Andy Butler replaced Dean having been an Iron player and coach previously – this is his first taste of management though, and supporters and local media have questioned whether he’s up to the job. If they don’t get up via the play-offs those questions will probably be answered with a P45.
Continuous wholesale chopping and changing each season doesn’t seem to do them many favours. Several of the players brought in this season are proven performers at this level and above, although they’ve perhaps felt the burden of expectation weighing heavily on their shoulders, given that this full-time club really should be able to win the National League North at a canter.
Great things were expected of striker Carlton Ubaezuonu who signed from Chorley in the summer, but he has only got six goals. However, they do ‘bat deep’ when it comes to alternative sources of goals. Danny Whitehall got 21 last season and has 14 so far this time around. Attacking midfielder Callum Roberts is their big danger though, with 20 goals and 11 assists.
Influential ex-Bull Will Evans will once again bring an intimidatingly solid presence to the centre of the Iron defence.
They’re borderline unbeatable at home, but the reason they’re not going to be champions is that they’re readily beatable away. However, given that they’ll have the motivation of playing a proper club, and given that they’ll be backed by 700 in the away section, they’ll be more up for this than they would have been for some of the away games they’ve lost when those givens were absent, unless they really do go big on saving themselves for the play-offs.
If the visitors are up for it, at least initially, the hosts may have to be patient in surrendering some possession here, perhaps even the bulk of possession, but this Hereford squad is arguably at its best when counter-attacking an over-committed opposition at pace.
Sammy Robinson will presumably start in a defensive midfield role, a role that seemed earlier in the season before his injury to allow virtually the whole of the rest of the side to operate more effectively. The defenders have cover, Tate Campbell has a bit more freedom, and both wide men can anticipate decent service from the ex-Man City player, either from accurate diagonal passes into space behind the full backs or from him breaking up opposition attacks and bursting forward on the break and releasing them.
Finally, I’m a little puzzled by the ‘negativity’ that Paul Caddis has alluded to recently. Admittedly opinion seems to be split on the Scot, in that 99% of supporters feel he and his players have given the fans more highlights during his tenure than in the rest of the National League North years combined. They feel that his appointment, presence and communication with the fans have been wonderful for the club and, regardless of how this season turns out, they have a near-universal hope that he can kick on again at Edgar Street in his third season of management, while accepting that he’s learning on the job and will occasionally misjudge things tactically.
Then there’s the 1% of people who may not think that, but that grouping will largely be made up of people sat on the sofa in their pants with nothing better to do than share their vacuous negative ‘thoughts’ on social media. Making a point of wasting your breath on them seems to be a waste of a post-match interview.
The backing in numbers that the fans have given to his squad this season has been superb, and suggests huge levels of positivity for Caddis and the side he’s put together. Swathes of that positivity will be needed in spades on Saturday, and that’s what he and the players will get, as usual.
COYW