After a difficult run of results Southport visit Edgar Street. Their well regarded manager Liam Watson has moved upstairs. In comes Morecambe legend Jim Bentley fresh from spending most of last season taking Rochdale towards relegation. Before that he took Fylde to relegation and then repeatedly failed to get them promoted despite the biggest budget in NLN. Southport have been well established at NLN for some time but suddenly last season it fell apart and they struggled after Christmas only just avoiding relegation.
Their ground is a sad sight. One magnificent stand from their football league days, champions of Division 4 when the Bulls were runners up in 1973. A mid sized terrace and two open sides one unused (like Edgar Street) and the other open to the elements. A poignant remember of better times. The home crowd struggles to reach a thousand. The Sandgrounders are one of the few teams with worse form than Hereford. They started with hefty defeats to Warrington, Alfreton and Spennymoor. They’re conceding less goals now but have lost to Boston and Chorley, with their solitary point gained impressively in a scoreless match at Brackley. Bottom of the table all season and only two goals scored, they would be ideal opponents for a Hereford side which has lost three games in a row. The Bulls will be wary of a new manager bounce.
In goal for many seasons has been Tony McMillan, a legend who has played almost 600 games for the club, but Chris Renshaw has been signed from Curzon where he was their player of the season last year and been given the number 1 shirt. Another former Curzon player Harry Flowers has come in at centre back having previously played for Brackley, he was a regular as Telford were relegated last season.
Liam Watson’s son Niall usually looks Southport’s player most likely to make a difference. The goal scoring midfielder has been a rare pearl in a gritty team of lummocks in recent years. Also in midfield Josh Hmami has stood out as another player signed for footballing skills rather than physical attributes. Southport will be one of the teams finding it hardest to deal with the crackdown on time wasting. After Alfreton they have been one of the dourest, most ruthless teams in recent seasons.
At the 4 0 hammering at Tamworth (the score flattered Hereford) one seasoned observer compared recent events to Simon Davey’s brief managerial career at Edgar Street . A bright young manager with a good record. Great results in friendlies and then a slowly deflating League campaign. A positive bouncy Chairman David Keyte and the impressive public relations of Chairman Ammonds were not dissimilar. Icily they noted that after weekly video updates pre-season from Ammonds and Griffiths there had been nothing for almost a month. The comparison was made that some fans only sing when they’re winning, and they wondered whether the top two only vlogged when the team was victorious. The comparison came from memories of O’Neill Thompson the gangly six foot six Jamaican international central midfielder who was supposed to boss midfield for Davey and the sight of the similarly built Dylan Barkers being overwhelmed at Tamworth.
The most vocal feedback at the end of the game was for the Chairman to get out and spend some money on better players. To his credit Caddis has acted quickly releasing Barkers and Obinna, freeing up funds. He is not going to get every signing right and best that if players aren’t working out they go rather than the Gowling style of collecting players like Panini stickers.
If I might digress (you will be glad when Mark Jones is back!) in my decades of watching football the biggest change is in what players do out of possession. Pressing, marking, offside lines and tracking back are massively better. Obinna was very poor at this. He tried but it did not come naturally. Watch the first goal at Tamworth and see how easily Finn is allowed to get in the cross by Stanley. When there’s a poor defensive player in front of him Cranston is less influential. Cranston is one of the team’s greatest creative threats and almost made a goal at Tamworth. He needs somebody in front of him to help with the defensive work and to allow him to roam forwards and influence the game.
Caddis will have seen that some players seem able to run forward faster than they can track back and it will be frustrating him. The loss of Derricott leaves relatively similar defenders available. It is worrying that Howkins is injured again. He has done so well to return from eighteen months out of the game but as another fan at Tamworth said Hereford should not be used as a rehabilitation centre. Fans can be brutal. Southern having looked reasonable at full back pre season had a very poor game coming in as centre back.
In midfield will it be three, four or five players? The team need a defensive midfielder to get the best out of the other players available and perhaps a signing will be made before kick off. The team also need more striking options. If Hewlett is not deemed good enough to start with three strikers out is it worth having him as a loanee? If Burton are paying almost all the money that’s fine but if not then it would be better to have a loanee who is deemed capable to play from the start. A difficult decision for Caddis, Hewlett won the penalty which won the match against Rushall. He has not stood out when coming on from the bench but neither has he seemed out of his depth. Southport are conceding goals and bottom of the table, so there will be no better game to ease him into the starting line up. Or again maybe there will be signing before kick off? Rooney seems certain to come back and play at least part of the game.
Cowley makes such a big difference to the team. Bulls fans will be anxiously hoping the club’s administration can expedite his scan and praying for good news. If you were picking a game in the division for a nil nil on Saturday this would be it. However, candid Caddis said his players were boys against men at Tamworth. So all the home fans will want is a manful performance win, lose or draw, going at it from the start, covering for each other and cutting out the unforced errors. If that’s the case it will be one sweet day and the Bulls will be doing just fine as the boys become men again.