Thank You Symo

 

The news that Mike Symons is joining Weston Super Mare FC means that there are no players at Edgar Street left who took part in the first season of Hereford FC.

A look back at Symo's first season at Edgar Street.

Symo joined the Bulls in November 2015 after a spell at Gloucester when Tim Harris was manager.

"Mike comes with good pedigree and has a track record of scoring goals in a higher league than where we are at the moment," said Hereford manager Peter Beadle.

Symo made his debut for Hereford as a sub against Rocester on November 7th.

New signing Mike Symons (already nick-named the Beast by the Meadow End) came off the bench and nearly scored a goal.

 

"Despite the level he has played at this is a big thing for him, a big crowd and a big club and he'll get better and better but he's shown today what he's about," said Beadle.

"He's not just a big lad, he's got good feet and he can move, he creates chances for others and I'm sure that with a bit more training and a bit more fitness he will score goals. 

"We're really pleased to have him on board and he should be pleased with shift he put in today for twenty five minutes." 

Symo's first and second goals for the Bulls came the following Tuesday in Hereford's 6-0 win over Stourport Swifts. He started the game in place of Pablo Haysham who was suspended.

Symo's First Goal For Hereford

Another goal for Symo the following Saturday At Bardon Hill in a 2-0 victory for Hereford.

The Beast continued to feature in most games and continued to add to his goal talley, one of which came at AFC Wulfrunians on January 2nd.

Jamie Willets Hitchs A Lift From Mike Symons

Two more goals for Symo in the FA Vase game against Leicester Nirvana helped Hereford on their way in the competition.



By the end of January Hereford were eleven points ahead of the rest of the pack but games were piling up as their FA Vase game at Hartley Wintney was postponed.

The tie took place on February 6th, Hereford won 4-1, and Symo scored one of the goals.

"We were wondering what took him so long to push it into the net because he seemed to take forever with it," said manager Beadle afterwards.

"He said he couldn't quite get it out from under his feet.

"Mike's got great qualities, he isn't just a big man, he's does that job extremely well and he can play.

"I'm glad he's got his goal today."

 

Symo missed a couple of games after sustaining an injury in the Vase win over Camberley. But was back as a sub and came on and scored at Loughborough.

In the second week of March Hereford's lead at the top of the table was down to a couple of points (Alvechurch overtook them for a while) but no-one was that worried as Cup fever had hit Edgar Street. Salisbury were the opponents in a two-legged FA Vase semi-final. The Bulls won the first leg 1-0 which was watched by 4063 fans.

So down to Salisbury and who better to score for the Bulls in their 2-1 win than Symo. And a trip to Wembley in May.

 

Hereford were second in the league with Alvechurch on top. They still had to play each other. In the mean time, the Bulls continued to win games and Symo continued to score goals.

Symo After Scoring At Dunkirk on April 2nd

"I think I scored with the last kick of the game," Symons told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

"We kept going to the end but performance wise may be not as fluid as we have been in recent weeks.

"But we kept pushing them and we got that little chance at the end and managed to get the goal and win the game."

 

The Bulls were back at the top of the table after defeating Alvechurch on April 7th.

 

Another goal for Symo in Hereford's 4-1 win over Brocton.

 

 

On Monday April 25th, a 4-0 win at Coventry Sphink ensured that Hereford had won the Midland League.

 

And a Symo goal helped Hereford defeat Westfields in the HFA Cup Final.

 

 

 

One more game of note, the Midlands Cup Final, a 3-1 victory over Walsall Wood and another goal for Symo.




So onto Wembley and the FA Vase final against Morepeth. It wasn't Hereford's day but there's little doubt that just to play at the home of English football was something most players can only dream of.