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Firstly the excitement of last Saturday’s victory in the Cup over Rochdale. Then, that classy and heartfelt message from Paul Caddis to the fans, a simple gesture but one that made me, at least, feel like something more to the club than just a revenue stream. Then, the Lyden and Downing contracts – a super piece of business and an exciting statement of intent.
And if that wasn’t enough, there was of course the crowning glory – dumping Clee Hill, arguably the biggest club bar none in that hotbed of football between Ludlow and Cleobury Mortimer, out of the HFA Cup.
Finally it feels like the club means business at Step 2 level.
Talking of which (and all of the above will look a bit daft if things don’t go well on Saturday) it’s back to the proverbial bread and butter, as the Bulls have yet another home game, this time against Curzon Ashton back in National League North. Regardless of the weather, sunglasses will be needed for this one if the visitors insist on turning up in their bright pink away strip again. A daring look which may well have been some sort of bet last season, thinking about it.
From back to front everyone put in a right old shift against Rochdale so it’s a little unfair to target anyone for special praise, but that centre back pairing is starting to stand out as being very impressive and something to build a long unbeaten run on. In midfield, poorly Jordan Lyden wasn’t missed, and that was thanks to Aurio Teixeira’s best performance of the season and Alex Babos starting to look like a player who a/ seems to really like playing for the club, and b/ seems, like Teixeira, to be growing in self-belief. He was superb last week.
However, despite the unbeaten run and clean sheets, the bottom line is that the club languishes in 17th position in the league thanks to that horrible little run in late August/early September. That will hopefully prove to be a false position over the coming few weeks, and as usual the middle of the table is tightly packed, so, given that the Hereford defence no longer concedes goals ever, a handful of 1-0 wins would propel the Bulls into the top half.
The Cup run is of course bringing in some much-needed wonga, but it’s also engendering a winning mentality, which can hopefully be extended to league games, including this tricky-looking one. This is certainly going to be a true test of how far the squad has progressed in recent weeks.
Jordan Lyden missed last weekend’s exciting win with some sort of germiness, but will presumably be available for this one. Jordan Cranston’s cameo against Rochdale hinted that he was full of beans again, or at least that his beans were returning, after seemingly carrying a bean-removing knock for a few weeks.
Goalscorer Ethan Freestone looked to be moving in a very laboured, bean-reduced fashion before being substituted, but maybe that’s just because of a lack of game time rather than an injury. With a shortage of attacking options, much depends on his mobility, for the time being at least.
The Nash ‘swooped’ (I believe that’s the term) for Miles Storey in the summer, and the likeable ex-Bull will presumably be well up for this, and as such will be dangerous. Some rather more unkind supporters than me may be surprised to hear that Miles has scored a goal in one of the ten games he’s played so far this season. I don’t know what the equivalent is up at Curzon's Tameside Stadium to Hereford Waitrose car park, but whatever it is presumably quite a few efforts have ended up there too. Hopefully his injury issues are behind him now, and if he’s fully fit his qualities, well known to the Edgar Street faithful, will make him a handful.
The Nash are enjoying a really good start to the season, and are unbeaten in five away so far. That said, South Shields had won all their home games before a certain club went up there and ruined that record, and another bit of record ruining would do very nicely here. The Mancunians have won their last two, beating Boston at home and Brackley away, and no-one generally beats Brackley away until the play-offs, when beating Brackley home or away suddenly becomes quite easy. They also knocked top-of-the-table Tamworth out of the Cup last weekend.
In a season that’s starting to make the last one look like a model of sanity when it comes to hiring and firing managers, Curzon boss Adam Lakeland recently jumped ship, unable to resist the bright lights of Kings Lynn. Craig Mahon, hugely influential for the Nash in games against Hereford in the past, is now player-manager.
Winger Will Hayhurst has four goals this season, while Hayden Campbell, impressive when these clubs last met, handily joined Macclesfield in the summer.
The club usually play the right way, although are occasionally prone to indulging in a bit of time wasting. However, given that it’s now impossible to score against Hereford the temptation to waste time isn’t as great as it was last season, when it was a fairly straightforward tactic to score early against the porous Bulls defence and then fall over a lot for 80 minutes.
It has to be said that the Bulls’ record against Curzon is pretty shabby really. Two wins in the eight games these clubs have contested is a record that needs to be improved upon, as does the performance when these two last met at Edgar Street in February. “There were some stinking performances and it looked like the Bulls could have played until midnight without scoring” was the conclusion of Bulls News match reporter Son of Eric after that defeat. However, that was then and this is now, and despite there being no prospect of the club’s two strikers being fit much before Christmas, things are looking up - the manager makes sense rather than talking in football coach double-dutch, and last Saturday was actually fun and a performance to be really proud of, which hasn’t been the case much in recent seasons.
More of the same here would be super, before an unbeatably glamorous trip to Alfreton on Tuesday night.
COYW