Hereford FC travel to
Derbyshire tomorrow evening for a National League North mid-table dead rubber
against Alfreton Town, kick off 7:45pm, a fixture originally postponed because Derbyshire was, and indeed generally is, wet.
The hosts shipped seven
(seven!) at home to Altrincham on Saturday without reply, the second time they've let in seven (seven!) at home this season, with the visitors scoring three (three!) in the last three minutes, suggesting that the Reds'
thoughts are wandering to the summer and a week on the beach at Skeggy, with nothing left to play for this term.
However, after a second mauling of that magnitude at home they’ll presumably have had the
proverbial hairdryer treatment post-match and will be keen to demonstrate
that they haven’t packed it in early after all, and won't turn up in flip-flops.
The Reds have picked up just two points from their last three matches, leaving them lying in 14th position in the table, two places above Hereford. When the clubs met
in December, an injury-time James Roberts penalty sealed the points for the home side at Edgar Street.
Setting to one side the loss to
Brackley, the Bulls go into this one on the back of some good results recently,
but I can’t recall a season more peppered with games of two halves. Lately, a
poor York team coasted through to half time at Bootham Crescent seemingly
unable to believe their luck, before the visitors belatedly decided to turn up
in the second half. Darlington were gifted a two-goal start before everything
changed after the break, and again on Saturday the first and second halves were
like entirely different matches. Admittedly in each of those cases the
opposition contributed substantially to their own downfall, but there certainly seems to be a
trend.
It could be a tactical shortcoming, in that the default initial approach in matches seems
to be to sit relatively deep, absorb pressure, and surrender possession
relatively easily. This has repeatedly and somewhat predictably resulted in the opposition scoring
first, giving rise to the need for half-time substitutions and a more positive
approach.
Perhaps it might be better to have the confidence to be positive from
the start of the match, particularly at home. Either that or arrange for the
players to set their alarm clocks to beep an hour earlier in the morning, so that by
3pm or 7:45pm their body clocks feel like it’s the start of the second half.
This may of course lead to the second half being rubbish as those body clocks
are thrown into confusion with the players feeling like they should be driving home or drinking cider, but it might be worth a try.
There will be a few decisions
for Marc Richards to take across the pitch for this one in terms of his starting XI.
After two really promising initial performances for the club, Coventry loanee Jak Hickman struggled
on Saturday, and Keiran Thomas was moved to right back to replace him at
half-time. If Thomas is to start in defence, supporters will be hoping
that room can be found in midfield for Eliot Richards.
Up front, James Waite played 45
minutes against Stockport, and perhaps is now ready to be considered for a
start playing alongside Rowan Liburd, who showed the sort of Millsesque fox in
the box qualities at the weekend that offer plenty of hope for next season. That
partnership could also see Ron Parrott scurrying for his reference books to check whether there’s ever before been a Bulls strike partnership with a two-foot
difference in their respective heights.
Another three points would lift
the Bulls into 13th position, gradually getting closer to what many supporters
would have deemed acceptable before the season started. It perhaps just doesn’t
feel quite like that because it got so grim for quite a while.
If the players
can get at it from the off tomorrow night maybe it could end 0-7 for the second match
running at the Impact Arena. If they don’t, and revert to type, it’ll be 3-0 to
Alfreton at half-time and 3-4 at the final whistle, with echoes of Truro. Ah, there’s another example of this Jekyll and Hyde season, although admittedly not one that was on the
Richards-Harris watch.
A seven-goal thriller
guaranteed though, regardless. It's written in the stars.
COYW