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A newcomer, at least in terms of the National League North (they’ve actually impressively been in existence as a club since 1877), Buxton play at The Tarmac Silverlands Stadium, the highest football ground in all England at 310m (1020ft if you’re reading this as an American). The pitch is made of plastic (not tarmac), which is understandable given the area’s famed dampness and the ground’s exposed position. However, it’s not a surface the Bulls have excelled on in the league this season, in fact they’ve been 100% consistently bad on it so far in losing all three games played on fake grass.
Temporary captain Luke Haines will be missing for this one as he’s suspended, and actual captain Jared Hodgkiss is still missing injured, and what a miss he’s been. Josh Gowling has hinted that he may move Levi Andoh into the centre of defence and play Mark Derricott at right back. That idea was presented as being bare bones-induced desperation, which seemed to be a bit of a negative take on what seems like a perfectly acceptable and quite interesting option really. Other than that, there will perhaps be a new loanee or two brought in to bolster the ranks, and ex-Crewe striker Tyreece Onyeka could make another appearance after popping up at Old School Lane on Tuesday. If he can contribute something that addresses the continued lack of ruthlessness in front of goal that would be super.
It's tempting to believe that if Telford can win 2-0 at Buxton as they did last weekend, so can Hereford, but the Shropshire side are belatedly showing signs of life under Kevin Wilkin (a manager showing that he doesn’t necessarily need the financial resources he had at Brackley to spark a revival in a team at this level), so that line of form might not be quite as encouraging in terms of Buxton’s fallibility as it would have been a few weeks ago. However, it’s still pretty encouraging, and is a result that means Saturday’s hosts have won just one of their last ten games, lost seven and picked up just eight points. Unfortunately Hereford haven’t done a great deal better over the same number of games, but we’ll gloss over that in the spirit of positivity. In Buxton’s case though a continuation of that form could see them returning to the Northern Premier League after just one season in the NLN. They’ve won just three of their 14 games at home so far, and those are the sort of numbers that are going to leave you in trouble. It also suggests that Buxton haven’t mastered their own plastic pitch, which, coupled with Hereford’s aversion to the surface, doesn’t obviously suggest that this is going to be a match high on quality.
Ex-Boston manager Craig Elliott took over as the Bucks’ head honcho following Jamie Vermiglio’s decision to resign in early December. He’s finding things harder in his new job, perhaps because there’s a significantly smaller piggy bank for him to exploit than at Boston. They’re not as leaky as some defensively, but captain and centre back Josh Granite isn’t quite living up to his name in being a rock at the back.
Buxton had a tough trip to Fylde to negotiate on Tuesday night. They presumably negotiated the actual trip without any problems, but lost the match. There’s no shame in that as Fylde are the only team in the division who seem capable of any sort of consistency at the moment, but following that loss Saturday’s hosts are now only clear of the relegation places on goal difference, and are in freefall.
This is therefore undoubtedly one that should be won by the Bulls if they themselves aren’t going to get sucked into a relegation battle. I think it’s best all round if we simply park the play-off thing for a while now. The team is just too prone to losing to make up lost ground, although It’s true that, like last season, a massive clump of clubs in the middle of the division are similarly inconsistent, all much of a muchness and all capable of beating each other more or less randomly. It’s that kind of division. It’s quite an achievement to be in that clump for a smaller club like Peterborough Sports. For a club the size of Hereford? Not so much.
As it’s an away match JG might be tempted to revert to the 4-2-3-1 that never works home or away, although the fact that there may not be four defenders available could force him into a different formation, preferably one that gets bodies and crosses into the opposition’s box on a regular basis.
Altitude sickness will not be believed as an excuse if it’s mentioned in any post-match comments should that win not be secured high in the Peaks. However, there’ll be no need for excuses – this looks like a third 2-0 Bulls win in four games, all day long.
COYW