It’s derby day for Hereford FC
tomorrow as the Bulls make the short hop across the M5 to Evesham (kick off
7:45pm) to take on Gloucester City. The Tigers are currently groundsharing in
Worcestershire, rather inconveniently, but hope to return after a 12-year
absence to their Meadow Park ground in Gloucester later this season, a ground presumably now protected from the aggressive tendencies of the River Severn.
If you could cut open the southern-softy
cathedral cities of Hereford and Gloucester no-one would dispute the fact that they’d both
profusely bleed whippet breeding, Hovis and flat caps, so there can be no doubt
that these two giants of the northern non-league scene are geographically where
they belong in National League North.
Gloucester, presumably with
some glee, moved across this season to the northern section after clubs in the
southeast occupied all of the relegation positions in the division above last
term, resulting in a log-jam of clubs more-or-less adjacent to the M25 trying
to squeeze into National League South. With the southeast often hinting that it
would be better off breaking away from the UK to spend more time with its
money, perhaps there’s scope for it having its own breakaway superleague of
Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs…and the likes of Welling and Hayes. The football
pyramid of the impoverished 'rest of England' rump country could then get on with being reorganised
more sensibly, and simultaneously be free of the burden of conscience of sharing a
home country with merchant bankers.
Er, naturally I mean no offence
to the wonderful London Bulls with this flight of fancy, or indeed the sizeable
Ramsgate contingent.
The Tigers finished 17th in the
southern section last season, and by some margin were the lowest scorers in the
division, which theoretically should see them struggling this season, with the
consensus, and indeed all available recent evidence, suggesting that NLN is
more competitive than the Premier League, and that NLS is like an under-8s
competition. However, new manager Mike Cook seems to have recruited wisely in
the summer, with ex-Bulls Jennyson Myrie Williams and Marlon Jackson coming in,
joining fans’ favourite Fabien Robert in attack to address the goalscoring
issue of last season. They came back from Blyth on Saturday, having travelled
through several time zones in doing so, with three points in the bag. The
aforementioned Jackson, who impressed in pre-season, scored the winner with 11
minutes left in a hugely impressive opening win. This one will be no picnic for
the Bulls, then, although perhaps Gloucester’s 550-mile weekend round trip will
give the visitors an advantage, as will a large and vociferous away following.
Bulls coach Marc Richards used
all three of his permitted substitutes in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Spennymoor, as
he forges an established starting XI from the new squad. Scorers
Jordan Nicholson and his replacement Tom Owen Evans both operated behind the
front two, so to incorporate both from the start would require a change of
formation, and frankly a much more devil-may-care tactical attitude than has
been evident from the Richards-Harris axis thus far. If the 5-3-2/3-5-2 is persisted
with, one of those players will feel unlucky to be left on the bench. That back
five currently looks a bit unbalanced with three centre-backs, a right back and
a left-sided player who could arguably be better employed higher up the pitch
in a 4-4-2, but perhaps with Danny Greenslade’s return at some point that could be accommodated,
with one of the centre backs dropping to the bench.
This might seem a bit grouchy
far too early in the season, but a point at home to Spennymoor shouldn’t necessarily
be seen as a wonderful result, when the club has exciting aspirations to get
back to competing at its natural level. That natural level was of course never
drawing at home with Spennymoor and going home happy. That said, there was plenty
of encouragement on Saturday to suggest that a viable base camp can be reached
by the end of September to mix it throughout the season with the promotion
contenders, and things can only improve as the players get to know each other
better. As mentioned last week, the really tough teams last season seemed to be
the ones who’ve played together for several years and have a certain telepathy.
Spennymoor certainly fall into that category, subtly tweaking their squad in
summer compared to the Bulls’ bulk changes, although the latter situation
was unavoidable given the disappointment of last season. If the talent
brought in by the management team gels who knows what’s possible? Three points from this one would be a statement
of intent.
Finally, let's hope that this most incestuous of derbies, given the coaching staff, doesn't lead to any embarrassing Ron Atkinsonesque 'standing in the wrong dugout' incident before kick off.
COYW
COYW