Another Saturday, another game,
and, let’s hope, another win. As long as it doesn't rain too much more in west Yorkshire overnight, Hereford FC travel to Guiseley tomorrow, kick off
3pm, hoping to continue the upturn in form that has seen them win their last
two. It’s been a while since an emotion as positive as optimism has crept
into my Friday night mental lexicon, but hey, it’s there!
At times recently it’s been
hard on these pages to dig out any positives, and one look at our dismal goal difference tells a story in itself, but last Saturday there were several
strong performances and much to be hopeful about. Tom Owen-Evans again looked
dangerous, as did Kyle Finn, and with Mike Symons now taking care of
back-to-goal duties, George Lloyd suddenly looks more threatening being able to
run at defences rather than trying to turn them. Calvin Dinsley also played
like a man fully aware that Marc-Richards-and-or-Tim-Harris seem to like
signing midfielders.
One thing that’s hopefully been
drilled into the players this week is to resist the urge to jump in and give away
free kicks in dangerous areas, ie anywhere in our half. Anything that gives ogreish opposition centre
halves the opportunity to scent blood and trudge forward to attack a brutishly
slung in free kick, when you’ve got a shortish keeper and a recent history of
getting bullied in such situations, is going to cause trouble. Far better
surely to be patient when without the ball and force your opponents to have to
do something creative to break through, rather than gifting them a route-one
dead-ball option. As everyone knows, the teams in this division have height and
strength in spades, but creativity? Not so much.
Guiseley’s admirable Cup run
came to an end on Monday at home against Joey Barton’s Fleetwood, with the
Lions losing 2-1 after a goals-are-like-buses few minutes in the first half. Tomorrow,
Kingsley James should start for the hosts, and that in itself is enough to
suggest that they’ll be no pushovers, as he was, for me at least, one of the
shinier stars resisting the gravitational black-hole pull of the Foyle HUFC era.
That said, their league form follows a pattern, whereby they alternately
draw and lose, and guess what? This week is losing week. If the new-look
Bulls can continue to improve as they develop as a squad there's no reason why they can't return home with the points. Indeed, if there are any aspirations to kick on in an upward trajectory, this has surely been earmarked as one of the more winnable away fixtures.
I don’t think there’s
ever been any questioning the attitude or effort of the players since Pete
Beadle was sacked, but those back-to-back wins should breed the confidence
required to play with more freedom, and to continue to show a bit more of the skill
and incisiveness that’s perhaps been latently there all along. Alloy that with the
togetherness that seems to have been ever-present in the dressing room and who
knows, a Trophy final at Wembley and promotion via the play-offs could be ours.
So, this one’s something of a
crossroads. Another win, and a late rattle towards play-off territory looks a
bit more feasible, there’s no-one in this division we should fear etc. A draw
and meh. A loss and blow me we’re flattering to deceive and you can’t see past
fourth bottom at best. Them’s the vagaries of supporting a club that doesn’t
win every week. That’s what keeps us going, that’s what keeps it intriguing,
that’s what we’re stuck with until we shuffle off this mortal coil. If you want
dull predictability Manchester doesn’t take long on the train.
Having sprinted,
in just three seasons, into a properly competitive division wins are harder to
come by, but they now feel better than putting six past Continental Star ever
did. Thank goodness we’re now feeling that feeling again at least.
COYW