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The last two matches against Gloucester have been horrible really. Utterly flat back-to-back 3-1 defeats over the August bank holiday weekend to Banbury and then Gloucester suggested to supporters that this season probably wasn’t going to be one of unadulterated glory. When the clubs last met at Meadow Park last season, Hereford never got going at all and lost 1-0. It’s high time then that the Bulls put a bit of spark into one of these derby games.
It looks like a good time to be playing the Tigers too. They’ve suffered a fair bit of upheaval behind the scenes with the two co-chairmen putting the club up for sale a couple of weeks ago and announcing that they’re leaving at the end of the season. This has coincided with a poor run of form, with just two wins in their last ten games.
Ex-Bulls Brandon Hall, Danny Leadbitter, Tommy O’Sullivan and Kennedy Digie are all at Gloucester, and the first two in that list should start. Digie’s injured and Tommy O came off the bench last Saturday. Matt McClure continues to be a big threat at this level with 14 league goals for the season, whereas fellow striker Matthew Barnes-Homer hasn’t really done any damage anywhere for about a decade.
For a club with a plastic pitch, their home record isn’t exceptional - they’ve won six of their 13 games at the TigerDome. They’ve also only drawn one, and that was against Leamington who only ever draw football matches, so honours are unlikely to be even at the end of this game.
It’s not entirely clear whether the anticlimax of the second half at Edgar Street on Tuesday was down to tactics or tiredness. It was a bit of a shame, when some of the first half football was scintillating, if the players were asked to play with the handbrake on after the break. And if it was more due to a lack of energy that too is a bit of a worry, as there hasn’t been a huge amount of football over the last month or so and although the last two matches were back to back they were both at home and not an epic slog up north. Also, with two games a week becoming the norm over the coming month and the squad being trimmed to cut costs, any fatigue now is only going to get worse.
If the second half was being professional in sitting on the 2-0 lead and absorbing pressure, it might be better to be amateurish. Farsley could easily have got back to 2-1 and then it would have been panic stations against a very limited side, with the danger of ‘doing a Chorley’. Not winning on Tuesday after utterly dominating early on would have been farcical.
However, the game was won and maybe everything was always under control and I’m worrying unduly.
I’m not sure what Orrin Pendley was up to though. No goals, and boringly could only find it within himself to play a very, very good game as a defender. Lazy really. Luckily Miles Storey has now taken on the goalscoring mantle, and should again prove to be a handful generally in his one. He seems really up for it currently, relishing the tweaked tactical approach. I’m really pleased for him as he always seems like a lovely chap when interviewed.
Luke Haines should be available for this one (I think, I’m always a bit shaky on this sort of thing) but will then serve a two-match ban that kicks in from next weekend as the midweek Peggy game doesn’t count. Interestingly, his reputation for having a shorter fuse than a dodgy firework seems to be growing, because a Farsley player spent most of the last match trying to get him riled off the ball and on the blindside of the referee, although admittedly all sides of an NLN ref seem to be blind. He almost got through the game without responding. Almost. Bookings at centre half are sometimes unavoidable of course, but too many of his are unnecessary. Lesson maybe learnt with this suspension. With fellow centre back Jordon Thompson now departed, a full 90 minutes alongside Orrin Pendley could be a possibility for Mark Derricott next weekend at Buxton. A golden opportunity for the lad to make his, er, mark.
Harry Pinchard has said that he’s been playing better on instinct, and the team is clearly full of free-flowing talent when allowed to play with the handbrake off. Hopefully that’ll be the case for the full 90 minutes against The Tigers, with the diamond formation again effective, with Ryan Lloyd nudging little probing balls into dangerous areas, and Jethro Hanson mopping up behind. That set up was working like a dream in the first half the other evening.
So, please can we have 90 minutes of amateurish attacking, and none of that clever professional sitting back and trying to be like Spain. Spain, Barcelona, Man City – they’d all get relegated from the National League North. They’d all be utterly lost when confronted by Southport.
With the welcome news this week that Westons will be continuing to back the Bulls for the next three years, what better way to celebrate than to put in a Vintage performance here? And I’ve just realised that’s the second preview in a row that’s finished on a cidery note. Cheers!
COYW