Finally...surely?

OK so by my reckoning this is the fourth attempt at getting this game played. If the win against Chester last Tuesday suggests that the Bulls are finally finding some form, it may prove to be a stroke of luck that the postponement of the first three attempts, when Hereford were in no sort of form at all, was a blessing.

This is also a chance for the visitors to gain swift revenge, as it was barely more than a week ago that the Seadogs beat the Bulls in Redditch. Given that Aaron Downes is still very new to the division and on a ridiculously steep learning curve, the fact that the opponents’ strengths and weaknesses are fresh in the memory should be useful. OK the club can barely afford to lose games, but that one is gone and he could now perhaps see that 90 minutes as an in-depth and useful scouting exercise for this one.

This is the Seadogs’ fourth season in the NLN, although it’s a challenging one for them following plastic pitch replacement issues at the Flamingo Land Stadium, which has left them playing home games this season twenty miles down the coast at Bridlington. Despite the inconvenience of that, they started superbly and were in the top three for a while.

They’ve now slipped a bit but still sit handily in the table. They beat Fylde and Merthyr earlier in the season, and their record as tenants at Bridlington’s Mounting Systems Stadium is very good.

They’re typically a good-to-watch passing team. Luca Colville, Alex Purver, Lewis Maloney and Harry Green have all shown themselves to be smart and creative midfielders against Hereford before. Dom Tear always weighs in with goals, but the big success story for them this season has been ex-Middlesbrough youngster Stephen Walker, who joined last February from Whitby. He has 15 league goals in 28 games, and scored in the game at Redditch. On Saturday, they earned a decent point in a 2-2 draw at home against Macclesfield. Walker scored both Seadogs goals and will need to be carefully marshalled by the Hereford defence.

Despite being a perfectly respectable draw against a good Macclesfield side, it was a result that saw them slip out of the play-off places for the first time in some time, and means they’ve now just picked up one point from their last two games since beating Hereford.

Like Alfreton, they’re not prolific scorers but they’re outstanding defensively at home. Macc did unusually well to score two there. They’ve lost just four of their 17 home games. Talking of home games, it still seems astonishing that Hereford have played just nine home league games actually at home this season, and it’s March.

The postponement of Hereford’s trip to Alfreton on Saturday was unfortunate on several levels. They were going into it with the momentum of scoring five against Chester, and the calendar is rapidly running out of enough days to play the number of football matches the Bulls still have to squeeze in before May.

The rearranged Alfreton game will be on a Thursday, which illustrates how important some shrewd squad rotation is going to be for the rest of the season. Survival is still very much in the club’s own hands, but the exhausting forthcoming schedule could still play a major part in where the Bulls finish.

Aaron Downes’ striker search continues, but if the visitors score another five goals here the sense of urgency may diminish. 

Fully-fit-again Lawson Dath will be in line for a start here, and should find the recent youthful arrivals who have joined the cub while he's been out injured to be enjoyable to play with.

In terms of events affecting relegation rivals elsewhere while Hereford had the weekend off, Peterborough, Bedford and Kings Lynn lost, whereas Oxford won.

A win here would be an excellent effort, and it could also lift the Bulls to the heady heights of third bottom. Alfreton are away at Kidderminster, who are struggling to find form. Our neighbours could do us a big favour there, but they look shot and Alfreton nicking it in good old Billy Heath-era Alfreton fashion looks irritatingly possible.

Victory would also leave Hereford just two points behind Peterborough and four behind Oxford, with six games in hand over both. The maths would therefore start to look pretty favourable. It’s going to take an exceptional performance to take the points back down south though.

COYW