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Farsley looked pretty dreadful at Edgar St a few weeks ago, when the Bulls ran out 2-0 winners, although in fairly typical fashion the home side did do their best in the second half to let the visitors back into the game.
Ex-Spennymoor striker Frank Mulhern tops the Farsley goalscoring chart with seven league goals this season, ahead of their usual top scorer Jimmy Spencer, who has only managed five goals to date.
They’ve won just four of their 13 home games this season, beating Buxton and Kettering, straightforward enough, but also Kings Lynn and our old friends Banbury, which is a lot more impressive.
They’re in deep trouble though, third from bottom and five points behind Kettering, who currently occupy the final safe space in the table. Boston, incidentally, would be relegated if the season finished now, a prospect that would be quite warmly welcomed by a few Hereford fans (ie the season finishing now rather than Boston getting relegated, although…). Last season Farsley finished second bottom, just two points clear of relegated Guiseley.
Last Saturday they lost 5-2 at Curzon Ashton, and no-one but no-one concedes five against the Nash without having quite a few very exploitable weaknesses throughout the side.
Needing to average something in the region of two points a game in 2023 to challenge for a play-off place, after a slump in form at the end of 2022 left them more likely to get out of the division the wrong way than via promotion, the Bulls are actually on ten points from seven following the last-gasp loss at Spennymoor. A continuation of that form would be some way short of being enough for seventh place, and there’s no evidence, from this season or the last, that the usual pattern of winning one or two and then losing one or two continually will change. A failure all season to be clinical in front of goal, again for the second season running, has cost the side mountains of points.
Following three losses in the last four games, the Bulls are now as close to the relegation places as they are to the play-offs. A season that peters out into stranded mid-tableness is looking increasingly likely, funnily enough ten years after ‘Peters out’ was a popular sentiment at Edgar Street.
Thierry Latty-Fairweather is back at Hereford for another loan spell as cover for injured Jack Evans, and by my reckoning that means the drawbridge of Playing Budget Castle is now firmly shut to further loan arrivals. That could be a bit of an issue, as Aaron Amadi-Holloway went off injured at Spennymoor. Zak Lilly may now be considered ready for a start following a long time out injured if AAH is out, but a Lilly-Pendley partnership at the back doesn’t necessarily scream high security. If Luke Haines has recovered from falling off a beanbag he would be a welcome option, although in the last match with Celtic one of their players seemed to be tasked simply with trotting round next to the Hereford stand-in captain saying unpleasant things to him to goad him (Haines) into getting booked which, of course, he did.
When the diamond has Ryan Lloyd at its base it moves forward more quickly and incisively than when Jethro Hanson is anchoring, so the latter could start on the bench here. That should in turn mean a deserved start for Dan Jarvis, who looks capable of making things happen in the final third, and goodness knows that ability is badly needed.
This Hereford side is impossible to second guess of course, but if they turn up for 90 minutes they win this at a canter and in some style if they can overcome the bobbly pitch. If they turn up for the more usual 45 minutes it’ll be touch and go. If they don’t turn up at all they could still come away with a 1-0 in the spirit of the win at Telford earlier in the season given the limitations of the opposition. It’s just a shame that it’s such a lottery, and has been all season, because when they’re on it this side can be a joy to watch.
Four wins on the bounce starting here and that play-off points tally is back on. All four are utterly winnable too, and the last three are all at home, not that that’s any guarantee of success. You’d be a brave punter to back it though given that continuing inability to finish good passages of play with the goal that play deserves. Come on Colin O – show us you’re the man to address that problem with an awayday hat-trick on Saturday.
COYW