Hereford travel to Chester having lost four in a row. Yet they played better losing to Southport than beating Rushall. Football’s a funny old game. Chester were impressive last season, outplaying the Bulls at Edgar Street. Their young manager Calum McIntyre brought through several players who he had coached in the youth team. He has just turned 30 and the Seals play attractive football but lost to Brackley in the playoffs. At Bumpers Lane Hereford won late on with possibly Luke Haines finest moment for the club. A hammer of a late hit nicking three points from a tight game. The Bulls are due one of those days again.
Like Hereford, Chester are disappointed with their league position sitting in 15th place. They’re unbeaten at home having beaten Kings Lynn and Farsley, and drawing with Chorley. Away from home they have lost to Bishops Stortford, Banbury and Scarborough. They stopped the rot on Saturday taking a point from Spennymoor.
Young goalkeeper Will Stanway is the younger brother of Lioness Georgia. He looked good last year and he has been watched by higher grade clubs. Weeks in midfield is usually a player to watch and if given time will run the game. The lack of tactical fouling is a concern for the Bulls and could have broken up Southport’s rare attack before they scored.
For Hereford the most interesting news came from manager Paul Caddis. In his post match interview he said that over 40% of the playing budget was going to just two players, strikers Williams and Cowley who are injured. This might be called the “Keith Hall” strategy. The veteran BBC reporter when asked by fellow Bulls fan Trevor Owen in recent years has been consistent in his advice. Find quality strikers and pay them the big bucks necessary to secure them. Goals win matches.
Keith’s in his seventh decade of watching the Bulls and few people will have seen more Hereford games. With excellent connections and a love of the game which takes in other matches, few people know NLN better. The problem is if both those players are injured. It also perhaps explains some concerns about a few players. If the current eleven are being paid less than 60% of the budget then money has to be stretched somewhere. Candid Caddis will be appreciated by fans but his openness may be a double edged sword.
The brightest spot on Saturday for Hereford was the second coming of Paul Downing. He turned in the most impressive defensive performance of any Hereford player this season. He looked so commanding that if captain Cameron does not recover from his head injury then he could even step up to lead the side.
Young Kian Ryley had an especially good first half and will surely feature again. Overall though the performance was reminiscent of many in recent years, promising but no cutting edge. With Howkins and Derricott out hopefully captain Cameron will be fit. Until the goal scorer’s return Hereford need to be tight and hold on to the point every team starts with. A tough disciplined performance with a late screamer like last year will do nicely.