A Nice, Normal Football Match?

Following some right old wacky action at Edgar Street recently, Hereford FC entertain South Park of Reigate on Saturday in the third round of the Isuzu FA Trophy, with Ben Bowen’s poor old pitch having to accommodate this and the Tenbury match on Tuesday before finally getting a rest for ten days.

Three sides of the ground will be open to the paying public for this one, unlike the two offered for the game against Redbridge in the last round. At that rate of ground reopening, if the Bulls progress to the next round it’s only logical that the Blackfriars End will have to be made available too – ideal for thrill-seekers willing to test its rate of subsidence.

The Bulls have quietly got on with being excellent at efficiently dispatching teams from lower tiers in knockout competitions this season, aided admittedly by continually being drawn at home. They’ll be very warm favourites to do the same here, as the visitors ply their trade normally in the Isthmian South Central Division, two tiers below the Bulls.

The Sparks are having a bit of a humdrum season, sitting in 11^th place in their division, quite a way off the play-off places but some way clear of Guernsey who currently occupy the final relegation spot, with the Channel Islanders presumably hamstrung by a very limited pool of players and the huge cost of footing the bill for all of their opponents’ travel costs incurred in having to fly over there for matches. Nutty.

This is the furthest that the Surrey club have ever been in the Trophy, and they got this far courtesy of thrashing Bognor Regis Town 4-1 away in the last round. To give an idea of the size of the club, their record home attendance is 643.

At the time of writing there’s some uncertainty over whether Tom Pugh’s loan spell has been extended to cover the continued absence of Jordan Lyden. Scunthorpe have hinted that it has been, but there’s been no official word from Edgar Street. If not, and Lyden remains unavailable along with Lassana Mendes, that central midfield area looks a little sketchy. The news on Lyden, however, isn’t bad, with the influential midfielder targeting a comeback before the end of the year.

It was good to see Kyle Howkins back on the bench on Tuesday after an injury absence, and this could be a useful exercise in getting back up to match fitness if he’s ready to start. In other centre-back news, Paul Caddis has suggested that Mark Derricott is now back to fullish fitness and could play a part here, which would be smashing to see. Still a teenager, the Herefordian can now hopefully kick on for the rest of the season injury free.

This might have been one to use to ease Andy Williams gently into his season off the bench, but despite some encouraging news about his return being perhaps a Christmas present for fans to look forward to, this is surely too soon for him. When he does come off the bench finally for an experimental five minutes or so, the reception should be something to savour, and it’ll be fascinating to see how his partnership with Jason Cowley develops.

All in all, that little batch of news is all fairly positive and bodes well for the rest of the season.

Shay Sterry may be brought in for another first team outing following an encouraging performance in the last round against Redbridge on his birthday. It may also be a good opportunity for Caddis to take another look at Arwyn Walby. To have those two and Mark Derricott on the pitch at the same time would send an important message to other local youngsters coming through that if you’re good enough and prepared to work hard you’ll get a chance. 

And who knows, even young whippersnapper Adam Rooney may be given the chance to prove that he may have some sort of career in the game to look forward to.

The youngsters should get another opportunity to shine against Tenbury on Tuesday in the Herefordshire Senior Cup of course

The £4500 to the winners here would just about keep Cowley in goal bonuses for a week or two at the current rate. Hereford strikers in the National League North seasons have never before troubled the upper echelons of the goalscoring hit parade, but Cowley is flying up that chart, currently sitting in eighth place, with a minutes-per-goal rate bettered only by top scorer Danny Waldron at Rushall.

If this is anything like as exciting as the battle between Mecha-Streisand and Robert Smith it should be a cracker. After the strangeness of recent games though, a nice regulation 2-0 would do just fine.

Finally, best wishes to Lassana Mendes and family. I’m sure his reception when he returns will be a hugely warm one.

COYW