Massive one - yet again

Two cup finals a week at the moment, and here’s another.

Hereford FC host Oxford City on Tuesday evening, knowing that a win would give the club and supporters genuine optimism again about the chances of survival, rather than just hope.

The Bulls very badly need to go on another two-game winning run, and then ideally another one after that, because if they win their four remaining games, all at home, none particularly nasty looking, they can’t be relegated.

In last Saturday’s relegation battle, the comeback draw duplicated exactly what happened at Edgar Street earlier in the season between Hereford and Bedford. If this Tuesday’s relegation battle duplicates what happened when Oxford hosted Hereford earlier in the season, it won’t be much fun.

The Bulls dominated the early stages of that game, yet came away losing 3-0. A red card for Matt Preston in the first half was the turning point.

A Bulls win here would reduce the gap to Oxford to two points, with Hereford having a game in hand. The Hoops follow this with a home game against a flying Chester, and then travel to Darlington on the final day of the season for a game the Quakers may have to win to secure a play-off place. That looks significantly tougher on paper than what Hereford have left, although of course on grass is where it matters, or, increasingly, plastic.

A rejuvenated Aaron Skinner made a difference when coming on at the weekend as a substitute. I’ve got an odd and persistent feeling that he’ll score a very important goal at some point before the end of the season. Aaron Downes may opt to start with him here. He’ll also need to decide whether to go with Keziah Martin or Harry Tustin, and also whether Andy Williams should start ahead of either George Munday or Mikey Lane, with both youngsters having been used extensively recently. They and the Cheltenham loanees will have grown immeasurably over the course of their time at Edgar Street, as players and men, but going from having played very little men’s football to two or even three games a week is inevitably going to lead to at least a minor bit of rotation being needed.

Matt Preston missed out entirely on Saturday, so it seems likely that Howkins and Quansah will start as the central defenders, denying Preston the chance to make amends for his early bath in the game between these two earlier in the season, although I can’t imagine he did actually have a bath after getting sent off. That would have been odd.

The Hoops took a while to adapt to the rigours of the National League North last season as newly relegated arrivals, both on the pitch and off it given the travel involved as a southern club in a northern league. However, they rallied, adapted and ultimately comfortably avoided back-to-back relegations. Nevertheless they finished a distant 23 points behind tenth-placed Hereford. 

They haven’t kicked on from there though, and up until recently looked nailed on to be relegated. However they’ve rallied again, and are seven games unbeaten (I probably shouldn't mention seven-game runs of any sort here given what's still fresh and painful in the memory). That run must surely come to an end very soon - as soon as Tuesday with a bit of luck.

Their upturn has coincided with the arrival on loan of ex-Kidderminster wide man Ashley Hemmings. Now a Dagenham player, the 35-year-old actually went back to Harriers on loan earlier in the season but it didn’t work out. He’s now at Oxford and they’ve lost just once in his eight games for the club.

Along with Hemmings, Zac McEachran offers vast experience and has played over 350 times for the club. The Bulls will have to be very smart in dealing with these old stagers, who won’t be fazed by the occasion one bit.

Ex-Bull DJ Campton-Sturridge is having a good season in a struggling side, with ten goals. However, he was missing from the side that drew 1-1 at Alfreton on Saturday with a sore ankle, and is a doubt again here.

It’s encouraging that they failed to beat the Derbyshire side given that Alfreton played with ten men for most of the game. It’s also encouraging that they’ve won just three of 21 away games this season.

Hereford have spent much of the season playing two very different games of 45 minutes within whole 90-minute matches, but they’ll know that they can’t afford a single no-show 45 minutes, along the lines of that first half at Bedford, in the eight blocks of 45 minutes that remain available to them this season. A repeat of the South Shields performance and result would do nicely. 5-0 for goal difference and blood pressure purposes would be even better.

There should be another good crowd for this, and hopefully a noisy, encouraging atmosphere rather than a tense one.

Can’t lose this, can’t really draw it either…by my reckoning that only leaves one option.

COYW