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Slightly beleaguered Hereford FC host Curzon Ashton on Saturday, hoping that a return to the green, green grass of home will see a change in their fortunes and a return to winning ways. Nothing less than a win will allow them to keep pace with their play-off rivals and prevent those rivals from disappearing into the sunset. Actually I’m not sure you can be ‘slightly’ beleaguered, you either are or you aren’t, but we’ll go with it.
The Nash, until relatively recently, would have seen finishing fifth from bottom as a successful season. Now, finishing fifth from top would be a bit meh, and they have the best away record in the division. They’ve won 11 and lost just three of their 18 away games this season.
These days then they’re solid play-off contenders and currently sit in fifth position. However, like Hereford, they’re having a mini-lull. They put a good run together to get back up into the play-off places having slipped down the table since being early pacesetters, but they’ve picked up just one point from their last two. That does still leave them two points ahead of Hereford with two games in hand, but hopefully they can continue to squander the opportunities those games in hand have given them.
They slipped up at home against struggling Radcliffe in the big Manchester derby on Tuesday evening, with the visitors getting a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.
Their goal threats normally come from Spanish midfielder Stefan Mols and seasoned centre forward Jimmy Spencer. They’ve scored 23 between them this season. Isaac Buckley-Ricketts was a shrewd signing from Warrington in the summer, and is a key player for them in midfield.
The worrying thing generally is that the Nash have better players than the sort of players who have caused Hereford problems over the last few weeks, the players of Marine or Rushall for example – not ideal. It will therefore be essential for the hosts to find another gear here that hasn’t been used over those last few weeks, if they have it in their gearbox.
The Bulls have very cleverly taken the pressure off themselves by earning just a solitary point in their last four games. That run has seen them unsurprisingly slip out of the play-off positions, and they can therefore go into this one with a flowing freedom, given that a top-seven finish is now out of their own hands.
With Yusifu Ceesay slightly off the pace at the moment, is there a case for leaving him on the bench and switching to a 4-3-3? Given that goals have now completely dried up, with even goalscoring opportunities few and far between, something has to be done to give defences something to think about, and that might be an option. Another option is a starting place for the lesser-spotted Adam Rooney. His cameos this season have tended to coincide with a more measured, smarter and ultimately successful collective performance.
Levi Andoh’s latest spell at Edgar Street seems to have come to a juddering and painful end, for this season at least, as he broke his collarbone at Scarborough. The Skinner-Howkins-Preston-Hudson back four therefore more or less picks itself, as long as Big Kyle has returned to fitness after missing last Saturday’s loss, and talking of losses, what a significant one he is. Tate Campbell could deputise at centre back if necessary.
Really and truly, results could have gone a lot worse for the Bulls last Saturday, but that’s not a huge consolation given the run the club finds itself on. It’ll be very interesting to see what Paul Caddis does tactically to attempt to stop the rot. There has been talk of some money being in the kitty should the right player or players become available, although it’s an unlikely time of the season for anyone good enough to actually make a difference to become available.
Having said that, Omari Sterling-James has been brought in from Rushall in what looks to be a statement of intent from board and manager, in that they’ll raid the piggy bank now to heighten the possibility of play-off participation at the end of the season. With all due respect to Alvechurch and Rushall, it’s high time OSJ’s year-long sabbatical at smaller clubs was put to bed, and he’ll hopefully respond well to playing in front of a crowd again. He’ll also presumably be well up for the Kidderminster game having spent two years at Aggborough. Whichever formation Caddis goes for, the new signing will presumably find a place in it.
Another 2500+ crowd for this one would send a message to the players that the supporters still have faith, but a figure below that wouldn’t be surprising given recent form and results.
Based on nothing at all I think this will be 4-1, somehow, but it’ll have to come as a result of some creative tactical adjustments rather than hoping yet again that the same approach will somehow miraculously suddenly work. It’ll also have to come against the meanest defence in the division. It’s a funny old game though apparently, so you never know.
COYW