Another day, another game

It’s been a handful of hours since the end of the Fylde game, so it must be time for another one. Hereford FC go again on Thursday, yes Thursday, with a trip to Alfreton.

This is only the third attempt to get this fixture on, which feels like a relatively straightforward scenario for this season. However, spring has very much sprung and unless Derbyshire experiences some sort of natural disaster, or Nottinghamshire invades it having considered it to be aggressively stockpiling nuclear missiles with a view to obliterating its neighbour, the game will go ahead.

Thursday still seems like a weird day to be playing a game (Thursdays are nothing days, the beige of days – they arguably shouldn’t exist at all, although I guess that would play havoc with calendars), but that weirdness shouldn’t mask the importance of it in terms of Hereford getting back to the business of securing safety as soon as possible, following Tuesday night’s setback against Fylde. Once that safety is secured (and that needn’t really be mathematical, just realistic) the Downes-Pell era can be formalised with contracts for next season and they can start building for 2026/27 with a view to operating towards the top of the table rather than the bottom.

No excuse exists for a club that generates such revenue through the turnstiles to be in the bottom four of the sixth tier of English football ever again.

Cold, hard reality doesn’t come more cold, hard or real than a 4-1 home loss followed by a trip to Alfreton, especially with only a 48-hour gap in between, with even less time to recover from the Alfreton game before the next game at Macclesfield on Saturday. The fixture pile-up always looked like it was going to be difficult on paper, particularly this phase, but actually now being in the middle of it you realise how hard it is on part-time players, and how having games in hand isn’t a luxury when they’re all coming at once.

However, that’s where we’re at, and that means rotation. Harrison Sohna will presumably see himself dropped to the bench for this, which in any normal scenario would seem a bit harsh on a player scoring freely and contributing considerably, but unusually the player and fans will totally understand why.

George Munday will be the starting striker here having been largely rested on Tuesday, but in the short time he was on against Fylde his enthusiasm and instincts seemed fully intact, and he’ll give the hosts a containment headache here.

Mikey Lane was quite rightly picked as MOTM on Tuesday; the Fleetwood loanee was exceptional in the quarter of an hour when Hereford gave Fylde some cause for concern in the second half, largely being the sole cause for that concern. I’m not sure he’s suited to being rested, and he’ll presumably play a part here at some stage. I’d love him to get off the mark - there’s so much to like about him.

Two others who may get starts here are Lawson Dath and Cormac Daly, and I mention them together because the former is able to uncannily and instinctively release the latter with exquisitely-weighted balls into the path of the Forest loanee just where the opposition right back doesn’t want them. A latter-day Jimmy Harvey-Chris Price telepathy seems to be developing, on the other side of the pitch. Alfreton will double up on Daly in an attempt to nullify him because that’s what they do, which will create opportunities elsewhere.

Whether they’re home or away, the Reds set up always to nick 1-0 wins. They’ve conceded fewer goals at home than Fylde have. However, ahead of the last time this game was scheduled, they’d won three of their last five, and sat four points clear of Hereford. That’s all changed. They’re now five points behind Hereford having played two games more and picked up just one point in their last five games. It’s a very good time to play them, even if it comes at the time of the Bulls’ deepest fixture congestion.

Their dip in form has corresponded with the departure of Ludlow-based goalie Harry Burgoyne, who now trains the Sloppies stoppers.

Young Josh Ayers is their biggest goal threat, and for whatever reason ex-Bull Sam Osborne is still out of favour, although recently he’s been promoted from having no involvement at all to being given a place on the bench. All quite baffling given their league position. He could be part of a very exciting side next season if he can be brought back to Edgar Street.

I don’t see this as a six-pointer. It’s a match between a side in genuine trouble and one with a very talented squad that just has to cleverly navigate the fixture situation it finds itself in en route to comfortable safety.

You’d never, ever underestimate Alfreton’s ability to grind something out, but this new Bulls squad has so much to it that can creatively find a way to unlock sides set up to simply and one-dimensionally play the percentages that you’d heavily back an away win here. Well, I would.

Finally, considering Fylde have aspirations to be a proper, professional EFL club (good luck with that), they might want to have a word with that odd, objectionable little urchin who bizarrely and amateurishly celebrated the first goal on Tuesday in front of the Meadow End. It seems to be a trend. Is it because these clubs don’t have fans of their own?

COYW