From Willenhall To Wembley?

To Willenhall then on Saturday, considerably more local for a lot of Bulls players than Edgar Street is, as Hereford FC visit Sporting Khalsa. The sides meet in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup, sponsored by or ‘brought to you by’ someone or other no doubt, but I won’t demean the venerable old competition by mentioning them here.

The hosts were founded in 1991 by the local Sikh community, and Hereford have met them before at step 5 as the Bulls scorched through the lower reaches of the non-league game on their way to screeching to a halt when arriving at the National League North. Those games almost ten years ago ended 4-0 and 0-3 in the Bulls favour.

A repeat of either of those scorelines would be welcome, as would the return of Mustapha Bundu, who scored a hat-trick in one of the games. Something else that would be welcome is for time to stop ticking so quickly. Ten years! Ten years!!!

The clubs also met more recently, in 2018, in a pre-season friendly to mark the opening of the 5G pitch which will be the surface this game is played on.

Sporting currently ply their trade in the Northern Premier League Division One West, up a level at step 4 since those games against Hereford. The Tigers have had a modest start to their season, with six points from seven games, and sit just two points above the relegation places. In those seven games they’ve managed just four goals, although they’ve only conceded four too.

Jamie Oliver plays in defence for them, so the half-time pies should be good.

With Hereford similarly still looking for their season to catch fire, with eight points in eight games and also two points above the drop zone, confidence levels in both dressing rooms will be some way short of sky high, but the clubs’ respective places in the footballing hierarchy make the visitors the long odds-on favourites to progress to the next round.

Sporting will presumably have seen footage of some of the Hereford defending so far this season and will have identified potential routes to success there, but if the Bulls can navigate the first half hour successfully they can build from there and exert their authority on the game.

The slightly lesser status of an FA Cup tie gives Paul Caddis a useful opportunity perhaps to experiment with bringing Matt Preston back in at centre back and moving Michael Parker out to left back, his favoured position at parent club WBA. It seemed to work when tried at Darlington in that he frequently got through and behind them at pace and provided decent service into the box. He also revealed yet another string to his bow last Saturday in the form of a proper and dangerous long throw.

One complication in any attempt to extend the defender’s loan deal may be that his performances will have attracted attention elsewhere, and the Baggies may want to test him higher up the pyramid with a National League or League 2 club when his current month with Hereford is up. However, one can but hope for an extension up to Christmas.

It’s always difficult to tell one way or the other, but it has looked at times this season like Kyle Howkins is getting through matches some way short of full fitness. If he is carrying a knock and the club is running out of tape to put on him, Keenan Quansah could come in to give Big Kyle a rest.

It was brilliant to see Sam Osborne open his account for Hereford on Saturday with a technical finish which demonstrated his talent as a footballer and hinted at a good deal more to come this season. Hopefully he can kick on from there, and could come in as a starter here with Matt Richards currently carrying a knock and deserving of a rest after some tireless work in midfield in back-to-back games recently.

This is of course not quite the priority a league game would be, but the competition offers the promise of some bonus paydays if advancement to the first round can be achieved. That money can then be used to improve the squad for the rest of the season.

Incidentally, admittedly that first round is an awful long way off, but Cardiff would be a tasty draw.

Of course this is a potential banana skin, but equally if the visitors take it seriously and score a few goals it could give confidence a boost ahead of the return to league action next Saturday at Edgar Street against Worksop, which is a game that really does need to return three points.

COYW