Assuming Covid stays away, the ‘loans not grants’ affair doesn’t get in the way, and any tailwinds from Storm Christoph don’t blow the Blackfriars End onto the pitch, Hereford FC entertain Farsley Celtic on Saturday at Edgar Street, kick off 3pm, as the Bulls finally get back to National League North action.
Without a league game since the creditable draw at Kidderminster on 2 January, the squad has been filling its time 1/ trying to play a football match in the northeast again, which always ends in tears, 2/ having subsequent games in more hospitable climes postponed as a result of ‘1’, and 3/ continuing to progress in the FA Trophy, with a gritty if ill-disciplined performance at Stamford on Tuesday, and now in ‘the round of 16’ as the Americans would have it, with a winnable home tie against Leamington awaiting. Win that and there are some giants of the game awaiting, potentially. Forget those matches against Newcastle, Arsenal, Tottenham and Man U - if the prospect of a quarter-final against Wealdstone, Havant and Waterlooville or Peterborough Sports doesn’t get you out of bed in the morning you need to check that you’ve still got a pulse.
Farsley are, like last season, minding their own business in mid-table, winning some, drawing some and losing some. They score a few, but are a little bit leaky at the back, like my gutters. They’ve beaten Gloucester at Gloucester but lost to both Curzon Ashton and Alfreton. They are Jeckyl and they are Hyde (who they drew with in a pre-season friendly). They’re four points ahead of the Bulls in 11th position, but have played almost a season’s worth of games more to get there.
Much-travelled striker Jimmy Spencer has scored six for Celtic so far this season. Last time out they led twice but ultimately lost 3-2 at Chorley, current darlings of the BBC for pumping a bit of romance into their FA Cup coverage, and allowing them to show footage of northerners watching the game precariously perched on terraced rooftops, with the producer’s Patronisotron machine turned up to 11.
Last year, in Farsley’s first season in the NLN since folding in 2010, these clubs drew at Edgar Street before Hereford won in Yorkshire, making it back to back wins in that county after the 4-1 win at York that was one of the few high points recently. It also hinted at what newly installed and then-interim head coach Josh Gowling might be able to bring to the party, a party that had been more of a very gloomy wake in the preceding 18 months. Those early positive signs have recently started to grow into true potential, with a new-found sense of purpose and belief.
This looks like a juicy opportunity for Hereford to build on the progress that has been made since the Chester defeat way back when. New arrival Callum Rowe looked instantly classy on his debut at Stamford in midweek, and was also sure-footed on what was a right old leveller of a pitch, so when taking to the manicured turf at Edgar Street he should make quite an impact. On making his first home start, it’ll also hopefully be vaguely recognisable to him as the same sport he knew at Villa Park, as a debut at Stamford must have had him wondering what on earth he’d committed himself to.
With Brandon Hall in goal and Jamie Grimes growing in stature with every game, opponents now have to put some effort into scoring a goal, rather than having a couple chucked in for them every game.
The Trophy tie was won without fielding an out-and-out striker, which is a neat trick if you can pull it off, but it’ll be good to see Lenell John-Lewis back for this one, assuming he was rested rather than injured or ‘training with Grimsby’.
Now a whopping seven games unbeaten, and with the players named above starting to form a very decent backbone to the squad, three points would keep the Bulls’ push for the play-offs on track, but with the season treading gingerly through an absolute minefield of potential terminating factors who knows whether it’ll all be in vain. Hopefully the players won’t have such a defeatist attitude, and win this one at a canter.
COYW