A welcome return to Edgar Street tomorrow afternoon at 3pm, where Hereford FC face Bradford Park Avenue, with an opportunity to quickly get back into the winning habit following defeat at Chorley last weekend, and consolidate their place towards the top of the table.
Chorley lived up to expectations, proving to be solid and uncompromising, and ultimately deserved the win, even if the injury-time winner was a bit of a sickener. However, the Bulls, not for the first time, showed that they can compete without the ball and defend resolutely. Given that there won’t be any easy games this season, those qualities should be at least as useful as their attacking abilities.
Talking of no easy games, Bradford, seemingly in common with every other team in the division and against all laws of league table physics, seem to have a reasonable chance of sitting in and around the play-off positions this season, repeating perhaps their seventh-placed finish last season. A creditable draw at home against Stockport last Saturday built on a solid start, although a line of form through Leamington, who beat Bradford 4-2, gives the home side every chance tomorrow. Wins against Brackley, Blyth and Spennymoor mean that Avenue sit one place below Hereford on the same number of points.
All eyes tomorrow will be on new signing Jordan Lam, who looks potentially to be a very exciting addition to the squad. He’ll no doubt be keen to make a good first impression, and could give Harry White the sort of service he’s been missing so far. If he starts on the left, the attacking threat in partnership with Greenslade looks to be a potent one.
In defence, Ryan Green will presumably continue alongside captain Liburd, with Harvey Smith remaining on the bench, potentially alongside his namesake Lance, with Reffell coming in on the right. In the middle, the Richards/Murphy/Macca triumvirate can’t be too far off being the first names on the teamsheet at the moment, I’d have thought. Whether Pete Beadle can find room on that bench for both JMW and Jamie Bird remains to be seen.
Fans will be keen to see the sort of all-action start in evidence in the seasonal opener against Blyth, rather than the slightly sluggish first half against Leamington, and having had a week’s rest energy levels should be restored. A repeat of the noise generated around the ground in the second half of the Leamington match will no doubt further boost those energy levels!
In a bit of an anoraky way, I’ve always been quite interested in Bradford’s history. For decades the they've been very much in the shadow of their big brothers at Valley Parade, but they were, from 1908 to 1970, a League club, before going into liquidation in 1974. Since then they’ve been clawing their way back up the slippery slope, so they’re very much the tortoise to HFC’s hare in terms of coming back from oblivion, and we all know how that race ended…
However, I’ve got a good feeling about this one. Good players are coming back from injury, good players are getting fitter and accustomed to the division, good players are coming in from elsewhere, and good players are ready to come on from the bench. All good!
COYW
Fans will be keen to see the sort of all-action start in evidence in the seasonal opener against Blyth, rather than the slightly sluggish first half against Leamington, and having had a week’s rest energy levels should be restored. A repeat of the noise generated around the ground in the second half of the Leamington match will no doubt further boost those energy levels!
In a bit of an anoraky way, I’ve always been quite interested in Bradford’s history. For decades the they've been very much in the shadow of their big brothers at Valley Parade, but they were, from 1908 to 1970, a League club, before going into liquidation in 1974. Since then they’ve been clawing their way back up the slippery slope, so they’re very much the tortoise to HFC’s hare in terms of coming back from oblivion, and we all know how that race ended…
However, I’ve got a good feeling about this one. Good players are coming back from injury, good players are getting fitter and accustomed to the division, good players are coming in from elsewhere, and good players are ready to come on from the bench. All good!
COYW