.png)
Regardless of the conditions, these two clubs have had strong starts to the season, reflected by the fact that Banbury sit second behind so far all-conquering Kings Lynn, with Hereford in fourth after two wins on the bounce.
The hosts won the Southern Premier Division Central title last season at an absolute canter with four games remaining, earning promotion to the NLN in finishing on 102 points, 23 points clear of Peterborough Sports. As with Buxton last weekend, and indeed Peterborough Sports, this is the highest they’ve ever been in the pyramid. The start they’ve had is therefore all the more impressive given the step up. Ex-Sloppie Kelvin Langmead is in the autumn of his career at Banbury, and ex-Bull Jak Hickman plays alongside him in defence. I remember Hickman looking potentially useful when at Hereford, but he was no Levi Andoh. How did Levi end up at Buxton and not Hereford, or indeed a Football League club, after being released by Ipswich this summer? Weird.
Winger Morgan Roberts scored both goals as The Puritans beat Darlington away last weekend. His brother Connor plays in defence, and brothers in the same team is of course parochial, tinpot and definitively non-League (no need to Google the 1977 Cup final at this point).
Banbury manager Andy Whing briefly assisted Russel Slade at Hereford during the latter’s uninspired and uninspiring attempt to pick up the pieces following the act of self-harm that was the Harris-Richards tenure.
It would be fair to say that Banbury are very used to winning and are clearly using a tsunami of momentum to have started this season in the manner they have. They last lost a match in January (2-1 at home to Redditch), and are on an unbeaten run of 17 matches, which includes 13 victories.
The last time Hereford visited Banbury was in 2017/18, when a Keyon Reffell goal was enough to win the game, and the double was completed at Edgar Street later in the season with a 3-0 win en route to a very comfortable promotion. Banbury finished a distant ninth, but that was then and this is now, and they’ve clearly come on in leaps and bounds since.
Encouragingly for Hereford, Ryan Lloyd is easing through the gears as the season gathers pace, Luke Haines is scoring whenever he sees a goal, whether it’s the right goal or not, and newcomers Zak Lilly and Jack Evans seem to be improving with each game. If one was to be ultra-fussy, one thing that’s missing is a goal from open play from one of the three attackers. It feels like it’s only a matter of time before that situation’s rectified. Could this be the match? The law of averages would suggest so (OK I’ve got no idea what the law of averages states or even whether it exists).
And contrary to my moaning about a lack of strength in depth recently when Yan Klukowski was seen as the answer to something or other when thrown on in attempting to rescue the game at Scarborough, Thierry Latty-Fairweather, Aaron Amadi-Holloway, and Jethro Hanson are offering real quality when introduced into the action off the bench.
That strong squad will be vital over the weekend as this match is followed on Monday by a local derby at Edgar Street against Gloucester, so changes could be made to what has been to date a settled starting XI, in order to keep things fresh.
Given the start that Josh Gowling’s new-look squad has made, and Banbury’s relatively close proximity to the blessed Shire, and the fact that it’s a bank holiday weekend, a good few hundred fans could make the trip. That shouldn’t be an issue as The Spencer Stadium surprisingly has a bigger capacity than Edgar Street, although it’s virtually all uncovered, and has only 250 seats.
This one looks tricky, but those back-to-back wins should mean that the Hereford dressing room is full of confidence and fancies its chances against anyone, quite rightly. That’s not to say that if an actual dressing room runs out onto the pitch in an XXXL Dawleys shirt at 3pm I’d back it to win. It would admittedly be pacier than Rob Elmes but wouldn’t be as good at heading, or teaching German.
Another win here and the elusive two-points-a-game average has been reached. That’s potentially enough to win the title. All that blood, sweat and tears spent last season fretting over whether seventh place was possible can be a distant memory this season if that average can be maintained, and it could be a wide-open division given how it has started, with unfancied Scarborough fifth (and one of three promoted sides in the top five), and pre-season fancies Boston bottom (no sniggering at the back).
Given the momentum of the hosts a win here is a tough ask, but it’s only Banbury after all, and three more points would certainly suggest that this season could be a blast.
COYW