The curtain closes on what’s been a difficult season for Hereford FC on Saturday at Edgar Street, kick off 3pm, as the hosts take on Boston United. However daunting the prospect of another match may be, I’ve just heard the headline “Environmental protestors glued to the Treasury”, which can’t fail in its surreality to bring some spring cheer. Hope the glue’s made of hemp and not nasty stuff.
Back on Planet Earth, the Bulls come into this one having picked up a creditable point away at an admittedly under-strength Altrincham, with one of the very few bright sparks of 2018/19 Tom Owen Evans scoring again. Everyone will be hoping that the club next season will be looking to win at Altrincham rather than being chuffed with a point, to win against Brackley three times rather than lose to them three times, and to generally be feared by all other clubs in the division, rather than be patronisingly considered a York or a Darlington, ex-League has-beens forever stuck here, specialising in draws and pleased as punch at avoiding relegation. As tough as it is, this is historically a below-par division for the biggest football club in Hereford, whatever name is on the badge.
Season tickets for 2019/20 are now being promoted, with an inspiring image on the official website featuring a jubilant Josh Gowling and the aforementioned TOE. If that was deliberate it was clever, because they’ve been rare positive exceptions amid a good deal of mediocrity, but as far as I've seen the season ticket announcement comes with not much detail, other than a mention of the signing of Rowan Liburd being a statement of intent, specifically outlining how things will be more appealing, more entertaining, more adventurous, more…successful next season. Perhaps the club's relying on people acting on instinct and stumping up the cash because that’s what they’ve done for 30 years. Surely, after a momentum-busting season, there should be more focus on selling them a bit more, rather than just selling them, if you see what I mean.
The Pilgrims’ progress this season has been a tale of humdrum bobbling along in mid-table, never in trouble but never threatening to launch a serious assault on the play-off positions. They narrowly beat doomed Ashton 2-1 last time out to halt a run of three defeats, including a loss to struggling Darlington, so essentially they're there for the taking.
The Bulls go into this one in the usual form – drawn loads, won occasionally, lost occasionally, but just four points and no wins from the last five games have ensured that anything approaching a top-half finish has proved to be beyond this season's squad. To hit the ground running in August Marc Richards and Tim Harris will have to find a formula for turning some of those draws into wins, perhaps by being a little less risk-averse.
This time last season a 4,500+ crowd saw the Bulls win 4-1 against a strong Kettering side in the final home game of the season. In my match report for Bulls News I wrote of a place that was rocking, as noisy and goosebumpy, proportionately, given modern ground capacity restrictions, as I've known it in 35 years of turning up, reflecting a club that was flying. How things have changed. It would be nice to write something so positive again early next season after months of bearing witness to a club currently wading through treacle, and I wish all employed at the pointy end of the ship every success in achieving that. It's easy to carp from the sidelines, much harder to lead from the front.
There really is nothing to lose in this one, so it would be nice to see what the players can do when given a bit of freedom to do something other than play for a draw. Marc Richards I’m sure will finally let his tactical hair down and offer a snapshot of what we can expect in August – 5-3 Bulls, I’m convinced. Anything less entertaining than that, particularly a cautious and attritional 1-1 draw, and people will start gluing themselves to the chairman in protest.
See you there, and thanks very much for reading these previews this season. It could be that Tim Harris scouts Guinan, Smith, Parry, Ipoua et al on 12 May and we suddenly have a free-scoring if elderly team on our hands in a few short months.
COYW