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Cup fever hits Hereford
Hereford United and Boston United go head to head tomorrow afternoon in hope of a big tie in the F.A. Cup third round. The wonderful traditions of the F.A. Cup at Edgar Street should be on show once again, including the famous praising of the swede before kick off. United will be hoping to complete their fourth league scalp in a cup competition this season.
Boston manager Steve Evans, who reportedly watched the Bulls on Tuesday night as they dumped league opposition out of the LDV Vans Trophy, may not be looking forward to the trip to Hereford. The Bulls gave him plenty to think about with their performance on Tuesday and the Pilgrims have not been doing too well on their travels this season. Their only away success this season has been at Aggborough against Kidderminster Harriers.
Evans will have to make a decision on who to start in his attack as he is missing two of his most important attackers. Leading scorer Andy Kirk is a long term absentee with a hamstring injury and new signing Daryll Clare from Chester will be ineligible for the match having played for Chester in the first round. There is a possibility that Boston may start with a lone striker.
Graham Turner has some very difficult decisions regarding his starting line up for the visit of the Pilgrims, most notably in the defence. Tom Smith has been superb in his last two performances and was named man of the match by Bulls News on Tuesday. Tamika Mkandawire has hit some good form lately and is unlikely to be dropped. Turner must decide wether to recall club Captain Tony James to the side after missing the LDV game through suspension, or keep his current pairing of Mkandawire and Smith. On top of that, Andy Tretton will not be satisfied with life on the bench for too long.
There will also be another selection headache for the manager in the midfield. Jamie Pitman made an impressive return to the side Tuesday night as the captain and also netted his first goal of the season. However, Graham Hyde's form of late has been very good and it may be difficult not to recall the influencial midfielder back to the side. Then there is the problem of who to play on the left wing. Rob Purdie has been impressing after injury lately but the three strikers, David Brown, Adam Stansfield and Lee Mills, have also been playing well. It will be interesting to see if Mills is left on the bench for the start again and Purdie played wide left or if Brown will return to the wing and Purdie to the bench. It has been a long while since Hereford United have had these sort of problems and it goes to show the strength and depth of the current squad.
Ryan Green is the only player unavaliable for the tie as he is still suffering from a hip injury. He has been at Lilleshall again this week for intensive treatment.
Turner told BBC Hereford and Worcester yesterday that his side will have to work very hard to get to the third round.
"We've got to go out there and be prepared to battle in the terms that it is a FA Cup tie. The prize at the end of it is being in the hat for the third round when the big clubs come in.
"So to do that we've got to go and earn the right to be in the hat. That's going to take a lot of hard work and a bit of bravery at times."
For anyone who is unable to make the trip to Edgar Street there will be live radio commentary and live steaming over the internet from BBC Radio Lincolnshire at bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire or on 94.9fm and 1368am.
