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It’s not quite the Med, but the attraction of a bright day on the Irish Sea coast beckons for Hereford FC on bank holiday Monday as they visit the Monaco of Merseyside, Southport.
This fixture was the first one last season to follow the departure of Paul Caddis. Adam Rooney admirably took the reins for it, but with everything in a very messy state at the time the 5-1 scoreline wasn’t a huge surprise. That was the Irishman’s one and only game in charge before Aaron Downes took over.
Having just about stayed up following that transition, the Bulls can now have another crack at it as an utterly rejuvenated side.
Historically the Haig Avenue pitch hasn’t always been a manicured bowling green, but it’s now much-improved, and will be the first away game of the season played on actual grass. The commercial benefits of plastic pitches to clubs at this level are considerable so their proliferation is understandable, but the spectacle they deliver does seem to be something of a poor relation to a game on a natural surface.
Southport tend to draw at home more than most. They only lost six home games last season yet still finished down in 14th position due to drawing so much. Incidentally, and on that note, if Hereford are to have a successful season they’d be looking to lose two games at home all season, three max, to finish in the top three. That sort of stat hits home in illustrating the scale of the transformation needed between last season and this if 2026/27 is to live up to its early promise.
As ever, Southport seem to be set up as a strong collective unit rather than a side featuring individual flair. On Saturday they were thumped 5-1 at Scarborough, finding themselves three goals down after barely half an hour. Will this be backlash or hangover? An early goal for the visitors could see home heads drops quicker than might otherwise have been the case if they weren’t coming into this following a thrashing.
Unusually, and possibly uniquely, 75% of the central midfielders in this game could be Lukes. Lukes Burgess and Griffiths will go up against Mr Spokes for Hereford. Take that Opta with your nonsensical ‘xG’ – you don’t do ‘Number of players called Luke’ do you?
The Southport Lukes (who sound like an indie band that disappeared without trace after one forgettable single in 1997 and a throwaway suggestion in the NME that they were the inheritors of Echo and the Bunnymen’s Scouse-rock crown) have made a good start to the season, or at least they had until Burgess got sent off on Saturday.
He has a couple of goals and a couple of assists already, and Griffiths came in from Macclesfield last autumn and has been a ‘combative’ addition to the side so far, with three yellow cards in five games.
Midfielder Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick is suspended for this, and for Hereford Kam Kandola will sit out the second match of his three-match ban here.
Red cards seem to be more common this season than last, possibly because no-one respects the idea of the captain alone being allowed to approach the referee to question their decisions. There’s a fair case to be made that both of Hereford’s red cards this season would have been yellow but for the pressure put on the referee from every member of the opposition, and often members of the coaching staff too, in bullying the referee. We’re all sometimes baffled by refereeing decisions, but there would be no game without them, and they need to have their authority respected, and should issue cards to players (notably goalies) who sometimes run from a different postcode to attempt to pressure them into getting an opposing player sent off.
New rulings seem to have put paid to the sort of time-wasting that was making games unwatchable (and again goalies were particularly culpable in that) – this hounding of refs similarly needs to be nipped in the bud. Perhaps it could actually be self-policed in a grown-up fashion by the 24 managers in the division getting together in a video call and agreeing to ensure that captains should be the only players entitled to approach referees.
Praise for Preston Bitemo after Saturday’s game from the manager may hint at a start here, allowing Luke Spokes a more advanced posting. Given the minimal recovery time since the Chester game, Aaron Downes may look to rotate a bit elsewhere too – a first start for Danny Waldren perhaps if fitness allows?
To go toe-to-toe against a Chester side destined for the play-offs (at least) with four big players missing (three injured and one suspended), is very encouraging.
A place in the top three beckons here for Hereford if they can return to winning ways against a hopefully shellshocked Southport side.
COYW