After a significant improvement last Saturday in drawing with York following a couple of ropey experiences previously, Hereford FC travel to Leamington this weekend for a National League North encounter they’ll fancy their chances in.
Given that just four points have been picked up in the last five games, this looks very much like a must-win if the Bulls are to cling on to the coattails of the play-off clubs.
When the Brakes visited Edgar Street in September, the 1-1 draw was marred by their captain Jack Edwards’ entirely unwarranted assault on Luke Haines, leaving Haines temporarily blinded. Edwards will presumably be reminded of this incident by the away fans on Saturday. It epitomised the approach that Leamington usually take, which is traditionally ‘uncompromising’, treading a fine line between competitiveness and, well, cheating. This, coupled with what is likely to be a bumpy pitch, are two of the most notable challenges the Hereford team face on Saturday in attempting to come away with a win. A referee with a bit of backbone and eyes in the back of his head, or eyes in the back of his backbone, would be warmly welcomed. Vanarama must be so proud to have their brand associated with the likes of Southport and Leamington.
Ex-Bull Simeon Maye will miss this one through injury, but fellow Edgar Street old boy Kelsey Mooney should start for the hosts up front alongside top scorer Dan Turner. Former Port Vale man Turner has 14 goals to his name in all competitions this season, and is reportedly starting to develop a good partnership with number nine Mooney, although those reports must surely be taken with a pinch of salt given that Mooney isn’t very good.
Turner has netted in four of Leamington's last six fixtures, most recently opening the scoring at Boston a fortnight ago, in a game the Brakes ultimately drew 1-1. They’ve only won three of their last ten, most recently beating a Chester side who are going from bad to worse. All in all, a team with play-off ambitions like Hereford FC should be fancying this one.
The Bulls’ record against Leamington is quite good. They’ve only lost one of the six meetings between these clubs over the last three seasons.
In a couple of lower-priority games in midweek, Hereford stuttered past Pegasus in the Herefordshire Champions League and Leamington beat a Burton XI to reach the final of the Birmingham equivalent.
NLN player of the month Maziar Kouhyar continues to attract the attention of scouts from other clubs. It’s a shame that he’s not on a contract to ensure that the club receives some compensation if and when he does move on, and if he does go it’s to be hoped that it’ll be to a club a step or two higher. Not Brackley. There’s no reason why another Maz MoM performance can’t be put in here, as long as he doesn’t get kicked off the pitch.
New recruit Mo Faal looks to be the sort of player to not only make a difference in his own right, but someone to open things up for Tom Owen-Evans as a number 10 and Miles Storey out wide. He’s potentially just what has been missing, a focal point up front, and the squad has done very well really to get to eighth in the table without any such focal point thus far, so with a quarter of the season to go the potential of that squad can perhaps finally be fully realised. Having said that, he’s only 19 so he might make no difference whatsoever.
With Ryan Lloyd presumably not too far away from a return, the squad is very close to being at full strength.
Other than the final two games of the season, against Brackley and then Gateshead, Hereford’s seasonal run-in really is quite a kind one. If the Bulls can play their own game and not get caught up in any Leamington nonsense here (it would be super if Krystian Pearce, for instance, could stay on the pitch for 90 minutes), this could be the start of another little winning streak to put pressure on York, Southport and Chorley.
A nice early goal to settle nerves followed by confident passing around the hosts to see them chasing shadows and therefore unable to get up to their spoiling antics would be ideal.
Talking of play-off contenders, York look like they may now disappear over the horizon and finish high up as their purple patch continues, but Chorley are showing signs of grinding to a halt, and may now be the play-off bunny to chase. That’s only relevant if the Bulls can start winning again though of course, but I’ve got a strong feeling things will click here and a 3-0 win will result, with TOE, Maz, Storey and Ryan McLean able to exploit the defensive disquiet caused by Mo Faal’s presence. If that doesn’t remotely happen and the Bulls come back without a win, the season starts to look a bit…overish. Big game then.
COYW