For the second time in less than a week Hereford have had to call off a home League game because of Covid problems in their squad.
First it was the game against Gloucester, now it's tomorrow's game against Kidderminster. And that came after the visit to Kidderminster on Boxing Day was postponed.
Whilst no details of how badly Covid has affected the Hereford squad have been released, it seems likely that around half may have contacted the virus or been in contact with someone who has.
National League rules state that if a club has at least 14 fit players including a goalkeeper games must go ahead.
However the Bulls may only have one keeper, Brandon Hall, signed up to play as manager Josh Gowling recently implied that Nykah Liburd-Hines had left the club. And so if Hall is unwell along with other players then Hereford had good reason to ask for tomorrow's game to be called off.
"Finance wise we can't have
two keepers so at the moment probably not, we'll see how that goes,
ideally we would have two keepers but it just might give one of the
young lads the opportunity to come and step up," said Gowling after the last home game.
Should Hall be unaffected by the virus then it could be that around half the squad is affected.
Gowling told the Hereford Times last Thursday that he had eight youth team players able to play for the first team.
Adding these eight to the (around) twenty two senior players in the squad gives thirty in total. So possibly up to half are unwell or isolating.
Whatever the number the calling off of the game will hit Hereford's income. No doubt the game will now be played on a Tuesday evening with a reduced gate. Hopefully when the game does go ahead Gowling will have a fully fit squad to select from.