Edgar Street Saturday, August 24th, 2019 k/o 15:00   National League North Attendance: 2,585       Hereford 1-1 Brackley Town
2019 /20

Comments :

A baking hot sunny day and a late start (noon) to Whitchurch station for the train to Hereford (direct). Then an easy (if hot) 10 minutes walk to the ground and a slow pint in the Radford Bar there. The ground looks pretty grim from the A49 but inside it is neat and very well maintained. Yes, it's old but it it carries its age well and feel homely and traditional rather than tired. And the home terrace end with its gentle curve adds to that timeless charm. The crowd atmosphere was good too. A real cross section of the community (all ages and types and plenty of women) but all so obviously emotionally connected to the club which has suffered seriously hard time in the last 30 or so years. I found myself being happy for them that the club it rising through the leagues after some seriously hard times over the last 30 or so years. (I didn't mention to my new mates around me in the stand that I could still remember vividly the season where either Brighton or Hereford would be relegated from the league and Brighton secured a very late draw to stay in - sending Hereford out and down. From there they continued down eventually going bust and having to rejoin in level 10 (or so). Best left unsaid). As for the game? Hereford started really well and scored a magnificent goal from a free kick that smashed into the crossbar only for the home centre forward to react fastest and head in the rebound. It was pretty much the last thing he did all match. After that Brackley took control and really should have won it. The Hereford team looked disorganised and largely disinterested. The No3 looked like he had never played football before and the No4 looked like he never wanted to. Luckily I had to leave early to catch my train and within ninety minutes I was home where we two sat together in the garden, in a lovely warm evening with not a breath of wind, eating tapas, drinking wine and chatting until quite late (for us). It was the perfect end to a really good day out.