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Mark Jones continues his look at Hereford’s rivals in the National League North with the 2022/23 season just around the corner. Here’s part two of the A-Z, or rather A-S.
Darlington
Like Hereford, a club that has gone down the ‘Squad Builder’ route, a route that’s injected a hugely impressive £136k into the Quaker warchest. Not sure that phrase really works with Quakers being pacifists, but ‘the Quaker peacechest’ is meaningless. Really good to watch at Edgar Street last season and didn’t do any of that mucking about either (yes OK, cheating). Could be dark horses at 10/1 to win the league, and hard to begrudge them some success given the number of clubs in the division who are really not good to watch, and who do do that mucking about (yes OK, cheating). Influential winger Kevin dos Santos has emigrated to Canada and won’t be commuting each week (lazy), but striker Mark Beck returns for a second spell with Darlo, and the ex-Harrogate man looks like a good signing.
Farsley Celtic
Like Curzon, another of the smaller clubs in the NLN, with quite a, erm, rudimentary set-up at their Citadel ground. New signing Andy Butler is knocking on a bit at 38, but has 700 professional matches under his belt and is one of those central defenders who lives to defend in a no-nonsense manner. The Celts irritatingly caused Edgar Street to almost audibly deflate in the opening game of last season, winning 1-0 as the home side were still in pre-season mode, a mode that continued for some time after that.
Gloucester City
Some eye-catching recruits in the Tigers ranks, notably ex-Bulls Kennedy Digie and Brandon Hall. They join Tommy O’Sullivan and Danny Leadbitter to comprise a significant Edgar Street old boys contingent, with Tommy O impressively pulling the strings for them last season as their playmaker. I always thought he had that buried in his locker somewhere, but I’m acutely aware that I’m more or less alone in thinking that. That’s not to say I wouldn’t rather have Harry Pinchard on string pulling duty though. Matt McClure’s also still at the TigerDome, but after an amazing goalscoring purple patch a couple of years back, he’s since struggled with a bad back. I know how he feels.
Kettering Town
Usually awkward and unpleasant, although last season’s game at Edgar Street at the end of November was a fifth win on the bounce for a Bulls team full of beans and giving the Poppies no chance to be awkward, or even particularly unpleasant. A few more home performances like that wouldn’t go amiss this season. They’ll badly miss the goals and influence of Callum Powell, who’s gone to Southend for an undisclosed fee. Andre Wright, who featured for Hereford at the end of last season, comes in as his replacement, along with a slew of other new signings, many of whom are ominously described as being ‘tall’.
Kidderminster Harriers
Lost influential Sam Austin to Notts County and Omari Sterling-James to Ebbsfleet, gained Tom Owen Evans and Krystian Pearce. The latter’s knees are now a year closer to being truly gone and he’ll presumably get sent off from time to time when those knees let him down and he has to employ underhand tactics when getting found out by pacy and hungry young strikers, like 36-year-old Ty Barnett. I hope it works out for TOE, but if not he can always come back. Experienced ex-Sloppie Nathaniel Knight Percival has signed for this season from Tranmere Rovers, which would make a central defensive pairing with Pearce quite a creaky looking one. One of several full-time clubs who have the on- and off-field profile of a higher-graded outfit. Play-off bankers, bookies’ favourites.
Kings Lynn
The Linnets found things too tough in the division above since their promotion in 2019/20, in fact they were completely found out and would have come straight back down but for Covid. Wishful thinking perhaps, but I’ve got a feeling they might be one of those who rapidly sink like a stone back to where they came from (and it wasn’t that long ago that they finished behind Hereford in the Southern League Premier Central division). A reasonably unpleasant bunch of chancers in their NLN championship winning season, but these things are relative, and when it comes to genuine unpleasantness…
Leamington FC
Squalid and ghastly. Will probably somehow win both games 1-0, leaving everyone who witnessed those games leaving at the final whistle feeling like their souls have been irreversibly blackened by the experience. Over-18s only.
Peterborough Sports
Something of an unknown quantity. A club that has flown up the pyramid with successive promotions since the 2015/16 season. Suspicions are that the NLN will find them out, as it has countless others, and that meteoric rise will come to a standstill. Here’s hoping. A handy new away trip. Well, handy compared to Kings Lynn. Michael Gash has ended up there, and will score against Hereford, because that’s what he does. You may as well put all the money you have on that. Strike partner Mark Jones has 110 goals in 220 appearances, which looks impressive but he’s been with the club as they’ve gone through the pub leagues, so there was presumably a bit of flat-track bullying going on there a few years ago to rack up the goals, a la John Mills. He has got a really nice name though.
Scarborough Athletic
Phoenix club formed after the liquidation of Scarborough in 2007. Up from the Northern Premier League via the play-offs last season. Given no chance by the bookies. 13 August for the away trip could tempt a few to go up and dip their toes in the North Sea prior to kick off.
Southport FC
See Leamington.
Spennymoor Town
Should be a stiff test for the Bulls as they open their campaign at Edgar Street on 6 August. Glen Taylor’s still with the Moors and with 25 goals last season still looks different gravy at this level. Slow starters last season, but picked up. No real case to make for them being champions I don’t think, but one of many solid play-off candidates. Encouragingly lost 1-0 at home to a Coalville side that got beaten 5-0 by Hereford in pre-season. Now managed by Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson, whose managerial currency still seems high at this level despite failing at Chester.
Overall Kidderminster, Fylde, Boston and Brackley look likely to be slugging it out at the top of the table, and Darlington are my idea of an interesting outsider. The bookies clearly haven’t been overly impressed with Josh Gowling’s summer shopping spree, with the Bulls available at up to 40/1 for the title, which puts them in the same bracket as Kettering. That’s never a nice place to be. Let’s hope they’re wrong.
COYW