It's the FA Cup again!

Hertfordshire hosts Herefordshire on Saturday as Hereford FC meet Hemel Hempstead Town in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup. If the ref’s from Hampshire we’ll be full-on My Fair Lady.

Like those other famed bastions of great British style and sophistication Swindon and Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead is primarily linked in many people’s minds with roundabouts. However, for ten years the town’s football club has been holding its own in the National League South, vying with those roundabouts to be the town’s leading attraction. Over the course of their tenure at step 2, they’ve tended to specialise in mid-table finishes with the occasional excitement of a relegation battle.

The Tudors have had a good start to the season, losing just one of their nine games so far, and are currently holding down the final play-off spot in the NLS. They don’t score many but neither do they let many in.

In the last round they bucked that trend of being a bit goal shy in the league by beating lower-graded Bishops Stortford 4-1 at home, and "should have scored more". Centre forward Millar Matthews-Lewis scored in that tie, and is their top scorer this season with four goals. The youngster came through the ranks at Luton, and despite finding himself currently at a lower level, at 20-years-old is young enough to perhaps get back into the Football League.

Hereford are now unbeaten in five as their season starts to show signs of twitching into life as something recognisable as ‘potentially successful’. Despite some true horror-show performances in August, the Bulls have steadied the ship and are now just five points behind big-spending neighbours Kidderminster. It'll be revealing to see how that steadied ship gets on in choppy waters against some of the NLN's leading lights in October.

They remain a little light of fitness in midfield, with Lawson Dath and Gus Mafuta either out or carrying a knock, Matt Richards coming back from a knock, and I-Lani Richards possibly newly knocked.

Despite that minor injury crisis in midfield, fully fit midfielder Sam ‘Ozzy’ Osborne still seems to have to bide his time before being granted a starting place, despite scoring goals recently when coming on as a sub. I hope it’s not making him paranoid. Sorry, I'll get my coat.

Preston Bitemo, following his nasty concussion incident at Darlington three weeks ago, should now be back to full non-dizziness, and remains a player supporters will be hoping can have a real break-out season in 2025/26.

Madou Cisse got on for a minute at the end of the 120 on Tuesday night at Sporting Khalsa. Very fleeting, but a hugely welcome sight as the Notts County loanee belatedly starts his season for Hereford. Hopefully he can build on that with half an hour here, long enough to maybe demonstrate what a telling contribution he can make for the rest of the season.

Fellow loanee and influential presence over the last month Michael Parker has officially completed his month-long loan spell now, but hopes are high that Paul Caddis can persuade West Brom to allow him back to Edgar Street for a second (hopefully prolonged) spell.

Montel Gibson seems to have spent most of his time cup-tied since returning to Hereford, and that will, fairly obviously, be the case again here. However, both Andy Williams and Rem Campbell both look like they’ve got goals in them this season, and are already responsible for one or two goal of the season contenders.

Could this be the game when one of the central defenders profits from Omari Sterling James’ exquisite service with a headed goal from a set-piece? It’s got to happen soon, surely.

This match comes just three days after the Bulls’ last FA Cup tie of course, and extra time at Sporting Khalsa wasn’t ideal preparation on Tuesday for this in terms of freshness levels, but getting through was the main thing, and got through was what the Bulls did, in gutsy fashion.

£5k+ to the winners here, along with half of the gate receipts, which may not amount to a bumper pay day as Hemel have yet to attract a thousand people to any of their home games this season so far.

This match could provide an interesting contribution to the debate about whether the NLS is indeed a piece of cake compared to the NLN. I’m not at all sure it is, but a 0-10 scoreline here might persuade me otherwise.

In reality, this looks more like it might be 1-0 either way. Hopefully the visitors get the 1, and charge into the next round.

COYW