There’s a neat W2 D2 L2 symmetry to Hereford FC’s start to the season, but everyone with a stake in the club’s best interests will be hoping for that symmetry to be broken on Saturday, and for the ‘won’ column to edge ahead as the Bulls host bottom-of-the-table Kettering, kick off 3pm. If that column can then extend its lead up to Christmas, the Gowling and Burr partnership will be on course for a top-half finish and maybe a tilt at the play-offs, all on what is thought to be a substantially lower budget than that handed to the hapless misfits who ‘managed’ the club between Peter Beadle and the current incumbents.
To achieve the consistency needed for this to happen, some of the more experienced ex-League players will have to lead by example. There’s a feeling that this is beginning to happen, with Jamie Grimes’ and Dan Jones’ quality starting to show, and Giles Coke getting a full game under his belt last Saturday in the tolerable-then-awful-then-phewee draw against Chorley. With Yan Klukowski to come back from injury, there’s no lack of experience scattered throughout the squad, and a level of ability that should have returned a better points haul than has been the case so far.
However, apart from Klukowski during his time at FGR (which is a real outlier of success compared to his goalscoring record elsewhere) none of those experienced players have ever really scored any goals, and that seems to be the problem: converting chances to goals. Could Demetri Brown’s return from injury as a substitute against Chorley mark the start of a fruitful partnership with Lenell John-Lewis? Here’s hoping. If Brown is fit supporters could get the chance from the start of the game to see whether that partnership with the Shop up front looks to have legs, with Kelsey Mooney unable to find the net during his loan spell with the Bulls so far.
It could be, of course, that the players are getting all the edgy performances out of the way in the behind closed doors matches, and are all geared up to come out like 11 Maradonas when the fans are allowed back in to watch. Clever.
It’s lucky in some ways that Tom Owen Evans’ suspension following his sending off against Gloucester kicks in here. If playing without in-form TOE at the moment is, for Hereford, like playing without toes, Kettering are who you want to be facing with such a handicap. The Poppies are hopeless, and look to be heading back down to the Southern League mini-pyramid at the end of the season. They hosted Guiseley in a real match for the purists on Tuesday, bottom against second bottom. Predictably enough the match was drawn, although the sides did manage to dredge up a goal each, with Guiseley having a penalty saved late on.
With just one win in their opening six games, it’s no real surprise that Kettering prop up the rest. Having said that, even though Curzon Ashton are probably more-or-less as bad as Kettering they sit in the top half of the table, just because they’ve played lots of games in comparison, so in this nutty old season league positions can be a bit misleading. On balance though it would probably be fair to say that Kettering aren’t far off where they’ll finish.
Last season, the Bulls won the home match between these sides 1-0 with a good goal from Jordan Nicholson, which was followed by a 0-0 draw at Latimer Park, Josh Gowling’s third game in charge, with the season coming to an abrupt halt shortly afterwards. That was Kettering’s first season in the NLN, and they found life tough, ultimately finishing in the relegation places, but saved from the drop by the pandemic.
Ex-Bulls Mike McGrath and Luke Graham should start for the visitors, with another, Kyle Perry, joining the squad today. Goalie Adam Collin, rated as the best in the division by manager Paul Cox, and midfielder Connor Kennedy are the Poppies’ star turns.
Three away trips follow this match in quick succession: Telford, Darlington and then Chester. A three-point return banked in this one is therefore a necessity to buoyantly bounce into that run of games, and there’s really no excuse for any slip-ups here.
COYW