After some mixed experiences in the northwest recently, the northwest comes to the Marches this weekend, with Southport FC the visitors to Edgar Street in a National League North clash between two play-off contenders.
The Bulls are currently winning alternate matches, and happily it's winning's turn on Saturday.
Results favoured Hereford on Tuesday, with play-off rivals, other than Curzon Ashton of course, failing to win. However, relying on results elsewhere is never a good look, and that 3-0 loss to The Nash has dented ambitions to move ever further up the table and enjoy some success at the end of the season.
One dreams of course of a Guy Ipouaesque last-gasp volleyed finish on a warm, bright spring evening with 4000+ in the ground to win a play-off match against some godawful tiny upstart team like Brackley as something that may come to pass in a few short months, taking the club ever upward. More realistically, in terms of poopers of that party, York in particular look ominously placed, five points behind Hereford but with four games in hand. They come to Edgar Street next weekend in an encounter that looks excitingly six-pointerish.
Josh Gowling sounded very cross after the Curzon match, so a positive reaction from the players (perhaps a slightly tweaked set of players) can be anticipated on Saturday.
In December the Sandgrounders put an end to a Bulls winning streak that had taken them from relegation trouble to mid-table safety, and a base camp for the subsequent push into the play-offs. However, there’s a reason why Port were, until last Tuesday, unbeaten at home this season. The pitch that day was ‘challenging’ and the wind was ‘coastal’; the home team were used to it and the visitors weren’t. In contrast, the Edgar Street pitch is always beautifully manicured, and the gentle breeze is always fragrant, sometimes carrying a hint of apple. In short, playing on actual grass should be a leveller.
Southport at the time of that 2-0 home win were, like Hereford, flying up the table from what had been a position of some jeopardy, and have now been sitting in the top six for a while. Recently, however, there’s been a slight dip in their form, a suggestion that they’ve peaked and are fallible again. That suggestion became cold, hard reality after a very surprising 3-2 loss at home to Blyth on Tuesday, their first defeat at Haig Avenue since December 2020, and 2020 was quite a long time ago. They’ve picked up just five points from their last six games, losing half. This looks like a very good time to be playing them.
Marcus Carver and Jordan Archer have scored the goals on which Southport’s success was built, but Carver moved to Hartlepool in November and Archer didn’t feature against Blyth.
As for the hosts, it looks like Ryan Lloyd will again be out for this one and will again be a big miss. Also, since Krystian Pearce got sent off against Kidderminster, eight goals have been conceded in three games. Chester didn’t have to work too hard for theirs, but Curzon Ashton were probably more responsible for theirs than an understandably upset post-match Josh Gowling gave them credit for. However, it’s an inescapable fact that results were mostly rubbish before the Chief arrived at the club, and post-Chief they improved massively, and in the current Chief interregnum everything’s become leaky again.
However, this whole ‘The Chief’ thing does stick in the craw and doesn’t really help, I don’t think. Krystian’s a good defender at this level, but all of that macho-posturing ‘Chief’ nomenclature is for dwarf dictators fomenting war in eastern Europe - it just sounds a bit silly in the National League North.
Erm, anyway, it would be nice to see a 2000+ crowd on Saturday. I spent £15.50 at Screwfix last week, and what I bought didn’t give me 90 seconds of enjoyment, never mind 90 minutes. In that context, a trip to Edgar Street is a bargain. As the club has climbed the table, and the ‘product’ on display has improved, attendances have remained stubbornly disappointing to my mind. With Covid restrictions easing, and Covid distancing options available in the ground on matchdays, perhaps this situation will start to change. Notwithstanding that disappointing defeat on Tuesday, Gowling’s squad deserves to be watched by a bigger audience.
So, if you’re destined to be sat at home in Whitecross, Whitestone, Weobley, Wellington, Willersley or Woods Eaves (Woods Eaves – who knew?) on Saturday afternoon doing nothing, and you’re even vaguely Bulls-curious, why not get to the game? A 7-0 win takes Hereford up to sixth on goal difference, and ever-closer to the sunlit uplands of Altrincham away next season. Do you get that level of anticipation and excitement from shopping at Wickes or Waitrose instead of taking a few paces the other way and doing something much more rollercoastery with your Saturday? Of course not - no brainer.
COYW