Lights, Kandola, action!

The unbeatable theatrical experience of Edgar Street under the lights beckons on Tuesday evening as Hereford FC host AFC Telford, in conditions that should be somewhat becalmed after the stormy weekend, for the first properly autumnal home experience of the season. 

I should say at this point for the sake of balance that other theatrical experiences on Edgar Street are available this Tuesday, but if you’re reading this you’re presumably not intending to go to the night of Italian opera at The Courtyard.

The Bulls edged the top-of-the-table clash on Saturday at Macclesfield in what was very much a first autumnal, not to say biblical, away experience of the season. That leaves them two points clear at the top after what still feels slightly like an unreal transformation following last season’s turmoil. In topping the table the Bulls have scored more and conceded fewer goals than anyone else in the division. An absolutely brilliant start.

The Bucks hosted Hebburn Town on Saturday in a game they came from behind in to lead with six minutes left, only for Hebburn to equalise in the last minute. That left the Bucks fourth from bottom in the table after enjoying a reasonable season last time.

Their big threat is centre forward Matty Stenson, who has four goals to his name this season, although he’s missed the last three games through injury. Their defence is a very familiar one. Brandon Hall, Zak Lilly, Orrin Pendley and Jordan Cranston have all turned out for Hereford in recent years. Hall is an excellent goalie, Lilly is generally a Rolls Royce centre back (prone to a few seconds per game of being an Austin Allegro centre back), big Orrin is a huge threat from set pieces but if you can isolate him with the ball at the back literally anything can happen, and Jordan Cranston basically ran the first half in this fixture last season from left back, a match which Telford somehow didn’t win. He is, however, coming back from injury and may therefore lack the mobility and energy he showed last season.

With Dylan Mitchell and Kian Ryley in midfield, the Bucks’ line-up could predominantly be made up of ex-Bulls.

Ageing Stokie Louis Moult arrived at the club in the summer, and with Crewe and Dundee United recently on his somewhat lengthy list of ex-clubs, he’ll need to be kept an eye on.

Aaron Downes has hinted at a bit of ‘second best to second balls’ frustration recently, and the same here will give Telford a way into this game if they’re more up for picking up and profiting from those second balls. It’s very difficult though to perceive of a way the home side won’t be as up for this as it’s possible to be following that win at Macclesfield.

Being absolutely on it from the start, as they were against South Shields, will generate a positive reaction from the stands, and that in turn gives further momentum to the players.

Downes should have a fully fit squad at his disposal apart from Lewis Hudson, and possibly Preston Bitemo, who was missing on Saturday. Kam Kandola will continue to deputise as a more than adequate replacement captain for Hudson, and Joe Willis and Fin Holmes may have to wait a little longer for a starting place given how well everyone else has done so far, but both could feature here in some capacity.

An Iwunze-Waldron partnership up front looks most likely, and, with Lilly and Pendley both capable of unforced errors at any given moment, Harrison Iwunze is not who you want to be defending against.

The National League North games between these two sides have tended to be close, leaving aside the 3-0 loss over there in February (and leaving that aside is the best thing to do with it). It would be nice if this isn’t remotely close, but if the Bucks go at it with the same irrepressible zeal that they did in the first half of this fixture last season, they’ll be a handful.

With the visitors likely to bring a few hundred supporters and the hosts top of the league, this game should attract a 3000+ gate, and another win would push that towards or over 4000 on Saturday, when a strong King’s Lynn side visit.

Can the Meadow End drown out the Courtyard’s opera night with a rousing rendition of Nessun Dorma?

COYW