Corner being turned?

Is a corner gradually being turned in Hereford FC's season? If that's too much to ask, can a corner be turned into a goal at the right end at least?

The Bulls travel to Lancashire on Saturday as they continue their quest to pull away from the National League North relegation zone, after being on FA Trophy duty last weekend with that rare beast, an Edgar Street home game. Whether there’ll be another one in 2025 is in the lap of the gods (and the forecast suggests that the gods might be in quite a good mood for a change next week), and, more prosaically, Ben Bowen’s new drains.

Chorley won at Edgar Street in August in second gear, but Hereford are, like the tortoise to Chorley’s hare, chugging into some sort of form for the second half of the season after starting it like they were still on the beach, and this could be more of a closely-fought encounter as a result.

In fact, the Bulls are approaching the season in the same way they approach individual matches – awful start and then gradual warming to the task. Match warm-ups should actually be 45-minute simulated matches, so that they then play the actual first half of games the way they typically play second halves. Where that leaves the actual second half in terms of energy levels is of course an issue. It’s all very odd though how lethargic the first fifteen minutes, and often the first 45, almost always are, and is something that needs rectifying.

Whether it’s right or wrong that the Bulls came into the season undercooked (some of those early-season no-shows make it very difficult to argue otherwise), there are signs, very tentative signs, of them now being capable of turning their multiple games in hand into cold, hard points, and seeing how far those points can take them up the league.

This will be something of a progress report. Just over a year ago at Victory Park Hereford confidently went toe-to-toe with the Magpies and would have won but for a late Andy Williams penalty miss.

If something similar emerges here it will strongly suggest that the side really is belatedly finding its feet, is on the up, and that things haven’t gone backwards over the last twelve months, despite the multitude of hassles since August, hassles that have been entirely out of the control of Paul Caddis and his players.

Something that is much more the remit of Caddis, Adam Rooney and their players, is that there was another early concession of a facile goal from a set piece last Saturday; they wouldn’t be quite so frustrating if one or two similarly easy goals were scored by the Bulls rather than conceded by them. There’s a distinct feeling this season that Hereford have to work for their goals (as should be the case), whereas opponents are continually given gifts.

The hosts sit twelfth in the league; that league position is unusually low for an ultra-consistent top-end play-off side, and gives some cause for optimism for the away side.

Long-serving goalie Matt Urwin remains one of the better keepers in the division, ex-Bull Harvey Smith continues to be a defensive lynchpin for them, and Adam Blakeman is both their free-kick expert and long-throw slinger.

Manager Andy Preece expects 18-year-old Preston North End midfielder Max Wilson to go on to have a decent career in the game, and despite his tender years the loanee’s quality could cause the Bulls some headaches here.

Preece is a shrewd cookie and he will have diligently done his homework ahead of this match. He’ll also be quite cross at Chorley’s start to the season, and I wouldn’t want to cross a cross Andy Preece.

No new arrivals in the Hereford dressing room this week despite Omari Sterling James reportedly leaving for pastures new. A four-game unbeaten run owes at least something to the following positives though: Jaiden White looking delighted to just be playing football again which is lovely to see and adds significantly to the side’s attacking threat. Gus Mafuta growing into his ‘thou shalt not pass’ midfield role, a role sorely needed when the Bulls midfield was being ridden roughshod over repeatedly earlier in the season. Also, Sam Osborne continues to be a livewire, Keenan Quansah is starting to come into his own and is offering some mobility at the back, and finally Aaron Skinner is hinting that he’s getting back to his best. Quite a long list, all in all.

All of a sudden the next game is, possibly, Kidderminster at home on Boxing Day, and as has been the case recently all eyes will be on the weather rather than the latest big-money signing our fancy-dan Worcestershire neighbours have brought in to drag them up and out of this division. A P-P for that one would possibly leave the club’s beancounters weeping (although not on the pitch please as it can’t take any more moisture) as losses from whatever has caused the issue will start to match the profit returned by the club for the last reporting year, and then all that financial prudence is undone.

That’s not a particularly bright note to end on though, so I’ll just say goals for Willo and I-Lani here wouldn’t be a surprise. And one for a centre back from a corner in the right net for a change. OK, maybe I’ve gone too far with that.

COYW