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After a summer of turmoil and change in terms of who’s pretending to run the country, it’s lovely to have the familiar, reliable warm glow of eager anticipation ahead of the new football season, to be able to look through the rose-tinted window of hope before the cold, hard brick of reality gets chucked through it and every Saturday becomes a nerve-racking rollercoaster again.
In common with Westminster, it’s been another summer of mass change at Edgar Street, something that all interested parties had hoped to avoid, but when bigger playing budgets and full-time statuses elsewhere tempt players away, what can you do? Early fears that the new club defibrillator was going to be trained/programmed to play alongside Big Ty Barnett up front were allayed with the re-signing of Miles Storey, who will hopefully be employed as a second striker, a role that looked to suit him on the few occasions he was used there last season rather than out wide.
The CVs of some of the summer recruits don’t perhaps shout ‘imminent success story’, but Josh Gowling’s track record in spotting a good fit for the club is generally sound, and if everyone clicks a top-half finish should be readily achievable. However, a policy of relying heavily on punts can backfire of course if none of them turn out to be any good. One similarity, hopefully only one, that Hereford FC have with Southport FC in terms of the key characteristic of some of the players they’ve brought in over the summer is that they’re punts, at least I think that was the word I heard used in Southport’s case.
Brandon Hall has moved on, with young Brad Wade coming in as his replacement. Brandon was popular with supporters, so Brad will have to quickly prove that he’s a worthy successor. He’s well thought of by Bulls fans who’ve seen him in action whilst on loan at Guiseley from parent club Rochdale, and is reportedly not lacking in confidence, and if the whole spine of the team can exude a bit of swagger that would tick a box for this season that was somewhat unticked in 2021/22. Young Seb Osment has been promoted from the youth team as cover.
In front of the new goalie Jared Hodgkiss continues at right back and as skipper, and will hopefully start this season like he finished the last, looking like a man on a mission, and hopefully that mission wasn’t merely to play for a contract. Jared does seem to have developed a genuine affection for the club, which is nice to see, and quite unusual in the modern game. A successor to Josh Gowling at some point perhaps? The three centre backs primarily used last season have all left, as has loanee Seb Revan at left back, so it’s largely a new-look defence.
Zak Lilly has joined after seven years at Telford, and comments made by my spy at the Bucks Head suggest that he’s probably going to be a typical Hereford player. A good technical footballer but maybe lacking a bit of grit. You can’t imagine Chorley having a player called Zak Lilly, they’d have Zak Granite or Zak Nasty. That’s the difference.
Luke Haines looks like he’ll drop back to central defence alongside Lilly this season. There’s no doubt that Haines is a real asset to the squad, but his central defensive partnership with Ben Pollock at the start of last season wasn’t one to inspire confidence at all times. There’s little doubt that the Lilly-Haines partnership would be one of the most technically accomplished centre-back pairings in the division, but there’s a temptation to think that it’s more important to have a large brick wall as at least one of your centre backs in the NLN, and that the team could get bullied defensively at times again. The antidote to that concern could be Orrin Pendley, the second centre half to come in over the summer, and a player reportedly with some of the brick wall tendencies that are required in this division. He’s never played at this level before, and has therefore never tested the strength of those tendencies when the likes of Matt Rhead are sledgehammering at it for 90 minutes, but his physicality is nevertheless a reassurance.
Last season, the left back position was a bit of a problem for some time, with Mitch Hancox very much a square peg in a round hole at Edgar Street, before proving to be very much the right shape in the right hole when moving to York. Strange one, that. Ryan Lloyd typically put in some reliable makeshift performances there, before eventually Seb Revan came in on loan from Villa.
This season the position has been both filled and covered. Another loanee has been found, this time from Burton, in the form of Thierry Latty-Fairweather. Jack Evans has also signed for the season from Forest Green Rovers, and can play left back or centre midfield. He played seven times for Fylde on loan at the back end of last season, and that NLN experience should prove useful. He could be a valuable and versatile asset, and looks likely to be first choice at left back.
Young defender Mark Derricott, another youth team graduate, looks certain to feature at some point this season, and supporters will be willing him to succeed. If finances are as stretched as is often reported, it’s vital that the club’s youngsters see a route into the first team as something they can realistically target.
Olu Durojaiye looked set to replace Luke Haines as the holding defensive midfielder this season, until the nomadic tendencies that have defined his career to date hit a new level when he moved on before the season had even started. Presumably someone as yet unannounced with a more impressive CV than eight games last season with Dartford has become available, which would be good.
Whilst it was disappointing to lose Pollock and Tom Owen-Evans over the summer, Ryan Lloyd’s re-signing was a big boon. His versatility will once again be invaluable, and that poacher’s finish against Alfreton towards the end of last season suggests that he could even do a job as a centre forward. Best striker’s finish of the season that was as far as I can remember. Much better than any of silly old Jaanai Gordon’s tap-ins.
Harry Pinchard and Ryan McLean are now in the second year of their two-year contracts, and should hit the ground running as they know the club and the division. Hopefully McLean has been practising his finishing over the summer, and a fully fit Pinchard should prove to be a handful over the course of the season, offering something that NLN defenders aren’t used to dealing with. I’m still not actually entirely sure what it is, but it’s definitely…something, and they don’t like it.
Up front, eight goals in 40 for Eastleigh last season might not be the best strike rate, but the 40 games bit suggests that Ty Barnett’s fitness at 36 is still there, and he should be able to create chances for others, and get comfortably more than eight himself at this lower level.
Gowling was still looking for the team to be more clinical in a few of the pre-season friendlies, which was an issue repeatedly last season, with the poor chance-to-conversion rate, and simply having no-one in the six-yard box to turn crosses in, arguably the difference between the play-offs and mid-table obscurity. Brand new signing Lekan Okideko could be the answer there. Seemingly an instinctive goalscorer in pre-season with a rapid hat-trick at Coalville, it’s a big step up for him though.
As the week progresses, it’s hoped that one or two other players will come in to complete the squad, preferably with a bit of experience at this level or the one above, and with the physical presence to give the likes of Pinchard and McLean the freedom to do their thing.
In the seasons that have been completed since Hereford reached the heady heights of the NLN, they’ve finished 17th and 12th. Another five-place jump would be sufficient for the play-offs. Is the club ready to go further without going full time? Doubt it. Do such concerns matter on the eve of a new season? Of course not.
This squad could be anything. Very exciting. Bring it on.
COYW