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There have been signs lately of that reality not necessarily being quite as cold or hard this season as it has been in the recent past, and the club sits just three points shy of the play-off positions following an excellent away win at Chorley last time out. The squad that was thrown together in summer has been coalescing recently into something that seems to have what it takes to finish somewhere a bit more exciting than a handful of points above third bottom.
Something akin to that second half performance against Gillingham should be more than enough to win this if it’s replicated over 90 minutes with a bit of clinical finishing thrown in, and it’s unlikely that the referee will be quite as keen for the away side to win this time. A straightforward 12-0 victory would see the Bulls leapfrog Brackley in the table here.
If that’s a bit much to ask, there’s plenty nevertheless to be positive about. Adam Livingstone and Ollie Southern, who have been peripheral and or unfit early in the season, are now proving to be more than capable having been called into the starting XI. A wickedly whipped Livingstone cross in the second half against Gillingham was precisely the sort of thing Jason Cowley will be feasting on soon when fit enough to instinctively get near it, and is the sort of delivery there’s been a scarcity of in recent seasons.
Kyle Howkins got through 90 minutes on Saturday without having to do a quick aerobics class to ensure his body didn’t seize up every time the ball wasn’t near him, which I’m taking to be a positive.
One negative is that Alex Babos, in such sparkling form recently, is a doubt here with a hamstring niggle, and Paul Downing’s hamstring will presumably continue to keep him out, although it’s all gone a bit quiet on that front, which is a concern given that his presence in the team means that Hereford only have to score one goal to win football matches. Also, Aurio Teixeira’s elusive suspension finally, definitely, kicks in here.
By my reckoning there could be precisely no specialist central midfielders available for this match, with Babos, Teixeira and Jordan Lyden all out, but you get the impression that if you built a wall anywhere on the pitch Lassana Mendes would quite happily find a way to run through it, so there may be some cover there. It’s an interesting dilemma for Paul Caddis to puzzle over.
The visitors were play-off losers again last season for the umpteenth time, so they’ve strengthened again in an attempt to finally get over the line with a promotion that’s proving to be more elusive than Aurio’s suspension.
Striker Dan Turner joined for an undisclosed fee from Leamington in the summer. He averaged a goal every three games last season in a very poor and ultimately relegated Leamington side, and would have expected to improve markedly on that this season in a team operating at the other end of the table. He’s got four from 11 so far, and will be a threat.
Another useful (and presumably quite expensive) summer arrival was Boston’s Jordan Crawford, signed to provide the ammo from out wide for Turner to finish off.
Zac Lilly has been brought in at centre back to replace fellow ex-Bull Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, who is now contributing significantly to Tamworth’s sensational start to the season. Bulls fans will be hoping to see the ricket-prone Mini Metro rather than the purring Rolls Royce in that singularly schizophrenic defender’s performance on Tuesday night.
His central defensive partner and club captain Gareth Dean has, over the course of 270 games for the club, contributed hugely to Brackley being irritatingly difficult to score against.
Ex-Telford manager and Sloppie centre back Gavin Cowan is the latest coach to put his head on the Brackley chopping block, and can probably expect to wave goodbye to that head if the club falls out of the play-off positions, given the fate of ex-boss Kevin Wilkin who was sacked last season with the club in eighth position. If that wasn’t ruthless enough (and by ruthless I mean idiotically short-sighted), Wilkin’s successor Roger Johnson was then sacked having taken the club up to fourth place.
The Saints come into this one looking unusually fallible and struggling for form. They’ve won just two of their last eight, losing to Rushall and drawing with South Shields in their last two, both at home, where they usually always win.
They’ve had a nice rest since then as their match on Saturday at Chester was postponed, presumably due to a lack of interest – sorry, my mistake, just checked - it was to allow Chester to play out a 0-0 draw with York in the Cup.
Paul Caddis continues to be a man it’s very, very easy to believe in and give support to, so hopefully some of the ‘big gamers’ among the 4,000 in the crowd on Saturday will come along to this one too, particularly the youngsters.
And on that note, namely wishing that a generation of entirely innocent ten-year-olds get hooked on something that will make many of their Saturday evenings miserable for the next 70 years, I’ll bring this preview to a close.
COYW