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Harwood Bull watched Saturday's game at Macclesfield.
The season is drawing to a close, and the Bulls’ final venture northwards allowed me a short trip over the border from Lancashire to see the game at Macclesfield. There was a real end of season feel to it. A nice sunny day, a relaxed atmosphere and a Hereford side that didn’t look too bothered about the result. Clucas’s low diagonal shot into the corner came so early in the game that I’d almost forgotten it by the whistle at the end of a second half in which the Bulls seemed totally bereft of ideas. It’s just as well that Macclesfield didn’t have much of a cutting edge to their play. The high points of the day for me were the two pints of Black Sheep in the Railway View pub, and the meat and potato pie at the ground. The football was totally forgettable.
My assessment of the season is based on having seen only eight games, but I think realistically, our position now is probably as good as we could have dared hope for. After the clueless Pitman era we have a solid and reliable management team, and are clinging on financially, although without the cup income we would have been in very deep trouble. The ‘overseas investor’ is yet to reveal himself. It’s hard not to be sceptical, investors usually invest because they expect to see some kind of return - where is that going to come from? I can only think there’s a tie in with some of the re-development at either end of the ground, but that could be years away, given the snail like pace of developments in our fair city. Does our prospective investor have that kind of patience?
Best players for me, based on the games I saw, were Stam, for his authority and organising, Clucas who always looked a threat from wide positions, and Bowman when he was in his spell of good form.
Worst match was the 5-2 embarrassment at Hyde, the best probably the 3-2 win at Stockport. Doesn't say much does it?
A friend of mine, now sadly deceased, always used to say "Never again, never coming again" at the end of every bad game. That was in the eighties and nineties, so he said it quite a lot. Of course he always came back and I'm sure we'll be back next season, because that's what we do.
I was pleased to see Chester's return to the Conference, and with Altrincham and Halifax in the Conference North play-off positions that could make another couple of fairly local games for me to go to.
There's also the possibility that Accrington Stanley, just down the road from me, could be relegated to the Conference, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
