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Back to league action for Hereford FC this weekend as they host Kings Lynn at Fortress Edgar Street following a smooth progression in the FA Trophy last Saturday, and then the youngsters’ putting 11 past Tenbury in midweek. Something similar here would sort out the goal difference situation in one fell swoop.
Whilst the Bulls were easing past Torquay, the Linnets experienced a bit of a sickener as they surrendered a two-goal half-time advantage to draw 2-2 on the plastic at Buxton. Ben Stephens scored but was then sent off in that one, so will be suspended here.
Both these clubs underwent a total overhaul in the summer and in contrast to Hereford it seemed, before a ball was kicked this season, that Kings Lynn had if anything weakened as a result of their changes, bringing youngsters in to replace more seasoned campaigners presumably for financial reasons. This feeling has been borne out as the season has progressed, with the Norfolkers sitting perilously fourth from the bottom, three points from safety having played two games more than Banbury, who are currently in the final safety spot.
It’s no real surprise then that they’ve lost six of their last ten games, and have won just once away since 7 November.
They lost a slew of good players in the summer, including Theo Widdrington and captain Michael Clunan, but the most notable departure was undoubtedly Gold Omotayo, who scored 25 goals last season. They haven’t come close to replacing him, with Bartosz Cybulski top scoring so far with seven. Central defender Adam Crowther has just been sold to Southend, who are now solvent again for the time being having been taken over by an Australian.
A similarly local benefactor has recently reportedly bankrolled the remainder of the Linnets season. Whether the Singaporean investor has the means to do more than just secure the immediate future of the club remains to be seen. Rest assured he hasn’t yet brought any of the superstars getting bored counting their money and rotting in Saudi into the club before this trip to Hereford.
Along with Chester and Fylde, Kings Lynn were markedly better than the rest last season, before ultimately crashing out of the play-offs to promoted Kidderminster. They did the double over Hereford, with the Bulls’ loss at Edgar Street being a typically meek capitulation. Meek capitulations are a thing of the past now though of course, at least at home, and Saturday’s opponents will be the team with by far the most to worry about as they run out onto the hallowed ground at 3pm.
The reverse fixture ended 2-2 in the opening match of the season in Norfolk. Lynn’s Jordan Ponticelli caused most of the problems from the hosts that day, but has recently been out injured.
Downing, Babos, Williams, Cowley, Lyden…in fact a whole fleet of Rolls Royces (over-indulgence of Rolls Royces? Planet-wrecker of Rolls Royces? Not sure of the collective noun) were parked in the garage for the Trophy game, either through rotation or necessity, and hopefully a few of them can come back rested, fit and eager here, gliding elegantly through the game like fully-charged Nissan Leafs.
Kyle Howkins did make a welcome return and a noticeable impact on Saturday before going off with a head injury, but will hopefully be available again as a starter here.
That Trophy win last weekend will have helped to banish any lingering hangover from the Scarborough defeat, and this is a golden opportunity for the Bulls to start another unbeaten run in the league to consolidate that play-off place. With three points separating 5th from 11th there could be a number of clubs in with a shout of play-off qualification on the last day of the season again. With Hereford’s goal difference the way it is, they’ll need to ideally claw their way clear of that last-day scramble between now and then. What a nice problem to have though given what’s happened over the last few seasons!
It's worth remembering that despite Saturday’s visitors recently competing (or rather failing to compete) in the division above, it wasn’t that long ago that Hereford surged past them in the Southern League with that run of back-to-back promotions. A relegation this season back to that level for Kings Lynn wouldn’t be a huge shock in that sense therefore, but given their full-time status it would be pretty careless, and would presumably signal the end of that full-time status.
In the eight matches between these clubs, Hereford have drawn two and lost the rest, so there’s certainly some room for improvement there, but unlike a lot of those previous games they’ll go into this one as very warm favourites.
This is one to boss, and one to win, setting things up nicely for the relatively short trip to Rushall on Tuesday. Six quick points would warm the mid-winter cockles like a tasty tipple in front of a roaring pub fire, by which I mean a fire in a pub not a pub on fire – that would be sad.
COYW