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It was so sad to hear of Jack Evans’ arm break. He’s a player many supporters (very much including me) have really warmed to. It’s fairly obvious that the squad Josh Gowling assembled for 2022/23 doesn’t bat particularly deep, to borrow a cricketing term, but Jack has been one of a handful of players who was well up to the task of taking the club into the play-offs. My player of the season, certainly.
With regard to that lack of strength in depth, and how exposed it leaves the side when the likes of Lloyd, Amadi-Holloway and Evans are missing from the starting XI, if a poll was carried out on who that handful have been, an ‘if-only-there-were-ten-others-like-him’ poll, I imagine there would be a fairly broad consensus on how short the list is and who would be on it. And I realise I’ve just kind of showed my hand on that front (thankfully I’ve never tried to play poker).
If the prospective new manager did happen to be present on Saturday, he’ll have been made well aware of a/ why his predecessor left by mutual consent, and b/ the scale of the job he’s got on his hands. Whether it was a collective hangover from the Jack Evans arm break or just a realisation that mid-table respectability is the best that’s left to play for, there wasn’t a huge amount of passion on display on Saturday, Miles Storey excepted, and by and large that’s been unusual from this season’s squad of players, who have continued to put a shift in even when they’ve been outplayed.
Outplayed is certainly what they were against Curzon. It wasn’t a fluke - that difference in quality between the Bulls and a club that attracts home gates of 300 is simply where the club is at, at the moment.
I said in the Curzon preview: “Something north of 50 points should be enough to ensure the treat of another couple of games against Alfreton next season, so the Bulls have 15 games to get 12 points, which you’d hope would be comfortable.”
Well, on Saturday’s evidence, the only way that 12 points is going to be earned is through 12 nil-nil draws. It was hard to believe at times when watching that there are four poorer teams in the division. Farsley, currently sitting in the final relegation place, are seven points behind Hereford with two games in hand. Safety from the drop is far, very far, from certain.
However, help is at hand, because the fixture computer has kindly handed the Bulls an away trip to league leaders Fylde on Tuesday night. This surely is the ultimate free hit, a chance to come out with nothing whatsoever to lose and have a bit of fun, if it’s possible to have fun in Fylde on a Tuesday night in February.
Back in October, Hereford emerged 2-1 winners against a Fylde team who had yet to hit their stride. The visitors bossed possession and looked hugely impressive on the ball, but lacked a cutting edge in front of goal. The Bulls defended deep but very well, and came out of it with an unlikely three points. With the chance last Saturday to do the double over Curzon missed by about as wide a margin as is possible, completing a second double of the season against Fylde would be about as sweet as it is unlikely.
The Coasters eased past Peterborough Sports away on Saturday, and in a division that’s much of a muchness they’re really the only side of true consistency and quality. They last lost on Boxing Day and since then have won eight of ten games.
Given the financial backing they enjoy, it’ll be interesting to see how they get on in the National League (Grown-ups Level) next season if, as seems likely, they go up. That backing could ensure that they can prevent their better players from being poached.
Mo Faal, who largely fired blanks at both Hereford and Telford, seems, unexpectedly, to have found his spiritual home on the Lancashire coast. The lofty Gambian is currently with Fylde on loan from WBA, and has scored nine goals in 12 for the league leaders, including both goals at Peterborough. Nick Haughton, like Alfreton’s Matt Rhead, seems to think he’s entitled to referee the games he’s involved in as a player, which is a shame as he’s a very good player at this level, and that arrogance makes it harder to appreciate his quality. In fact it makes it impossible because you’re too busy shouting at him to stop it. He’s scored 15 goals this season, after getting 26 in 2021/22.
If anyone puts a tenner on a Bulls win here and it comes in, that could be the squad builder sorted for the summer. Stranger things have happened. The faithful will be backing the players to bounce back from Saturday’s no-show and give the leaders a bloody nose with a counterattacking tour de force, prior to this week’s big announcement of the person tasked with transforming the club from being somewhat on the ropes to capable of delivering knock-out punches to all and sundry next season. I thought it was strange seeing ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson on the Len Weston Terrace on Saturday, but now it all begins to make sense.
COYW