Friday, 21 October 2011

Hereford v Barnet

The Bulls take on Barnet tomorrow in another bottom of the table clash at Edgar Street and I have been asked to cover it for Monday's paper.
The home side will be hoping to build on the performance last weekend against Bradford, during which you could see their collective confidence grow as the game wore on.
Barnet are only two points and two places ahead of Hereford who themselves are one place off bottom spot in the table - currently being kept warm by Plymouth.
Despite Plymouth's well documented financial problems, I think most football fans expect them to rally at some point soon and so it's important that Hereford start racking up a few points of their own.
With games against Northampton and Torquay following tomorrow's game, there is an opportunity to do just that and - if manager Jamie Pitman and new Director of Football Gary Peters have maintained the buzz created by the win against the Bantams - they might well be in a position to build a winning run.
Barnet will be without 24 year old Charlie Taylor who has - correctly in my opinion - received a three match ban for spitting at an opponent during last weekend's win at Aldershot. Not something any fan or player likes to see and while the ref missed the incident, the TV cameras didn't.
However, co-striker Izale McLeod will be in the starting line up and despite the club's lowly position, the former Charlton man has been knocking ion the goals this term - ten in all competitions so far. Hereford's defence will need to stay alert.
McLeod is still only 27 years old, but an experienced campaigner. He made one substitute's appearance for the England U-21 side in a 3-1 win over Norway and so is obviously no mug. He's also a bit of a hero in Barnet for scoring the penalty against Port Vale last season that kept the club in League Two. Stefan Stam and Andy Todd beware!
Another player to watch out for is 24 year old Ricky Holmes. Holmes joined Barnet after being released by Chelmsford City in 2010 so that he could pursue his dream of playing at a higher level. While he suffered injuries in his first professional campaign, he has hit the back of the net in his last three outings for Barnet.
The Essex-born striker has come off the pitch with concussion in the last two games and is due a late fitness test before tomorrow's tussle.
The excellent Bulls News blog (http://bullsnews.blogspot.com/) is reporting that 37 year old Todd might be offered a longer deal at the club. Todd, who is the son of former Derby County and England legend Colin, has built a reputation for himself in the game with clubs such as Blackburn Rovers as a no-nonsense defender and following last week's performance, boss Jamie Pitman said:
"I thought he was fantastic. It's a month at the moment. If he shows what is he capable of doing I'm sure it will be longer than just a month."

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