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I did tip Darlo as my title fancies before a ball was kicked this season at 10/1, and was feeling really smug when they were genuine title contenders pre-Christmas. However, three points from their last six games suggests that they’re doing all they can to snatch mid-table anonymity from the jaws of potential play-off glory, proving in the process, if proof were needed, which it isn’t, that I’m a woefully awful tipster. They do have games in hand over all of their play-off rivals, so there’s no need to panic and it’s all still in their own hands, but Gloucester are suddenly flying in eighth place (yep, weird) so it would be understandable if the Quakers are quaking just slightly.
Darlington are, like Hereford, a club that went down the ‘Squad Builder’ route pre-season, a route that injected a hugely impressive £136k into manager Alun Armstrong’s playing budget. Players brought in included striker Mark Beck, who returned for a second spell with Darlo, and the ex-Harrogate man proved to be a cracking signing with 15 league goals, before finding the glamour of a move to Solihull too hard to resist last month. Beck and fellow close-season arrival Jacob Hazel have 32 league goals between them this season, with Jack Lambert chipping in with a further 12 from midfield, and that ‘chipping in’ would comfortably make him Hereford’s top scorer this season. The three of them have scored more than the whole of the Hereford squad in 2022/23. Beck’s departure seems to have coincided almost precisely with Darlo’s dip in form though, so well done Solihull.
The Quakers were really good to watch at Edgar Street last season in a 1-1 draw they had the better of, and they didn’t do any of the messing about wasting time and trying to con the ref that so many others do. However, it was a shame to see in November that all such Corinthian spirit had upped sticks and left them over the summer, exchanged for more of a Southporty/Leamington-y/Alfreton-y (that list is getting longer) cynical time wasting and nastiness approach, indeed they were far more Southporty than Southport were at Edgar Street this season.
As well as their main goalscorers, they’ve also got two tasty midfielders in Adriano Moke and Danny Rose, although Rose, at 35, is more of a bit-part player now, combining playing with coaching.
Defensively they’re not so clever, and recent slip-ups at the back have been cited as the cause of the club’s recent poor run of form. They will not fancy facing the pace of Ryan McLean or Miles Storey one bit if their confidence is a bit shaky anyway.
Hereford have problems of course at the
other end of the pitch, and that goal-shyness has proved costly lately, with a
point coming from the Bulls’ last two matches, at Chorley and then in the home
0-0 against doomed Telford, when, with a functioning centre forward, those
matches could very comfortably have returned at least four points, keeping
alive a vague hope of play-off qualification in the process. However, it wasn’t
to be, and 'enjoying' 46% of possession at home against a Telford side that's had an abject season leaves quite a bit of room for improvement next season.
That match in November at Edgar Street, when Darlo showed themselves as transformed in a few months from a pleasant footballing outfit to something boss Armstrong would no doubt approvingly term more professional and streetwise, told a familiar story. Hereford played some really good stuff at times which unfortunately didn’t ultimately result in them scoring more goals than the opposition, in fact they scored precisely half as many goals as the opposition, which is never a good thing.
The Bulls go into this one with in-form Kane
Thompson-Sommers a doubt after coming off injured against Telford. Interim
manager Yan Klukowski does have a few options open to him as a replacement, and
Dan Jarvis looks like an agreeable candidate to start if he himself is fit
enough for 90 minutes after a recent absence. His perceptive runs from deep
positions into dangerous areas are very useful to a team that lacks a more
traditional centre forward presence in the box to finish moves off. Harry Pinchard will also be keen to regain his starting slot.
Miles Storey looks full of threat and enthusiasm currently, but hopefully he’s seen an emergency hairdresser in midweek to correct what was surely the result of an unfortunate incident with a lawnmower prior to the Telford game.
Levi Andoh was unlucky not to score against Telford, and will hopefully enjoy a more elongated period of the game here in which he suddenly catches fire for no apparent reason and decides to repeatedly cut through the opposition like a hot knife through butter.
So, the hosts look very much on the ropes and like they’re in the throes of a bit of a ‘choke’, whilst the visitors can play with some freedom as one of a handful of NLN clubs with nothing left to play for. This looks ripe for a Bulls smash and grab a la Fylde. If that theory plays out and the Bulls come back with the three points I will of course be reaching once more for my play-off calculator like the eternal optimist that I am.
COYW