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Let’s not run before we can walk but another win would start to put the Bull among the pigeons in terms of the play-offs, which, considering the off-field shenanigans and some of the recent on-field performances, is really quite remarkable. Two points a game until the end of the season would still be the bare minimum needed, and that won’t be achieved on the form showed recently against Banbury, Farsley, Curzon and Chester, but if somehow the level of performance in those matches can be eradicated and goalscoring opportunities can be taken rather than squandered by a squad very light on goalscorers (at least goalscorers playing up front), you never know, although blimey that’s quite a hefty wedge of if onlys.
It was rich reward for Kane Thompson-Sommers to score the winning goal on Saturday, after a run of matches in which he’s shown admirable determination to go with his quick feet. Ty Barnett should, assuming he’s not carrying a knock, be nicely rested and available to Yan Klukowski as an option as the focal point of the Hereford attack here, although he’d be looking to be more involved than he was in the Chester game if he gets the nod.
Jamie Egan’s return to the club looks like a shrewd bit of business, and as good as Orrin Pendley’s been all season Egan and Aaron Amadi Holloway are both capable of clearing constructively from central defence to another Hereford shirt rather than just clearing to the opposition’s goalkeeper.
When these two sides met at Edgar Street the home team looked at times just about as good as they’ve looked all season, with Jacks Holmes and Evans, Marcus Rus and James Melhado all in scintillating form. Obviously 75% of them won’t be playing on Tuesday, but if the outcome of that one-sided match, a 1-1 draw following a late uncomplicated Chorley equaliser, was as irritating to the players as it was to the crowd that night they’ll be motivated by unfinished business here.
Those players will hopefully recall that Chorley were not the force they’ve been in previous seasons, and recent results bear that out. Just one win in their last six games has left them just three points clear of one-dimensional Alfreton, with the Reds having three games in hand to overhaul the Magpies and claim that final play-off place from them, presumably aiming to do so with a series of bludgeoningly unattractive 1-0 wins. Having said that, Chorley are, as ever, a very tricky proposition on their own patch, and Hereford have come away empty handed from their two visits there to date. The hosts have only lost three of 18 games at Victory Park this season, so the Bulls will have to reprise the Fylde performance to take the points back to Herefordshire.
Chorley were highly placed throughout last season, ultimately losing to promoted York in the play-offs. I suggested pre-season that If the Bulls finish above them you’d imagine they’d be featuring heavily in the end-of-season promotion shake-up. That would still appear to be the case as we reach 2022/23’s denouement.
Manager Jamie Vermiglio surprisingly left the club last summer to join promoted Buxton, with Evesham-born director of football Andy Preece changing roles as replacement. Striker Connor Hall tops the NLN scoring charts along with Chester’s Kurt Willoughby, and is scoring at a goal every other game over the course of 100 games for the Magpies. Willoughby, incidentally, demonstrated last Tuesday that you can miss sitters and look a bit silly, and after all you’re at NLN level because you’re capable of missing those sitters, but if you’re continually sniffing around the six-yard box like a right old goal-hanger you’ll eventually tap one in. Hereford FC don’t have that sort of player on their books, unless it’s Orrin Pendley, hidden in plain sight. AAH as a centre back and Orrin as a cost-effective poaching goal machine in a role-reversal-parallel-dimension-thinking-inside-the-box scenario next season? I’m not joking, Orrin is a fox in the box.
Another Chorley player to watch out for will be midfielder Jon Ustabasi, who has scored 12 goals in all competitions this season. Ex-Bull Harvey Smith is now a regular in defence.
So this unlikely play-off thing. There are clubs around the Bulls who are better placed theoretically to be the ones to make a late push for seventh due to them having games in hand (see Alfreton above, and Banbury too), but if you’re optimistic enough to yet again start to believe that some consistency is possible off the back of a 1-0 home win against a Kettering side who have been awful away all season, then the Bulls’ run-in is about as good as it could reasonably be expected to be. Telford at home usually yields three points and that’s when the Bucks are fully functioning rather than on life support. Darlo, Kings Lynn and Brackley could be tricky admittedly, but apart from that there’s Boston who are having a terrible season, Leamington (ditto), Peterborough, Bradford and Blyth, and if that lot isn’t low-hanging fruit then there’s no point being in the play-offs anyway as it would be embarrassing.
I’ve got to say I’m not sold yet, purely on the basis of what’s happened over the whole season, but a win at Chorley would strongly suggest that Yan Klukowski’s management could be making a difference and rendering what happened before his ascent to the top job irrelevant.
It’s a bit of a leap of faith but here’s hoping. Big game.
COYW